Biodiesel production from the Scenedesmus sp. and utilization of pigment from de-oiled biomass as sensitizer in the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) for performance enhancement

This study proposes two DSSC test models, i.e., PVDF (Polyvinylidene fluoride) - bound cell and cell without any PVDF binder. For the PVDF-coated DSSC, the average energy conversion efficiency reached about 14.3%, the open circuit voltage was 0.55 V, and the short circuit current was 144.5 mA. The unbound cells showed a reduction in efficiency, voltage, and current, and notably efficiency of 10.44% on day 1 was decreased to 3.32%, and the open circuit voltage and short circuit current of 0.38V and 144mA were decreased to 0.24V and 130 mA after 10 days, under 40 mW/cm2 input power. The PVDF-coated solar cell has maintained its efficiency range of 16.32%-11.22%, which is higher than the PVDF-unbound cell for a tested timeline of 30 days. The fill factor of 0.47 was observed in PVDF- unbound DSSC under 40 mW/cm2 as input power, while it was increased to 0.577 when PVDF was used as a binder. The PVDF-coated cell has low degradation compared with the PVDF-uncoated cell. These results offer dual benefits as the production of biodiesel from microalgal lipids and electricity generation from the DSSC using the pigments of biodiesel-extracted algal biomass.PMID:38518911 | DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2024.118726

Source: Cell Research - March 22, 2024 Category: Cytology Authors: Narasimman Kalaiselvan Mysoon M Al-Ansari Thangavel Mathimani Source Type: research