Simulation and Performance of Natural Sensitizer Dye from Lagerstroemia speciosa Flowers and Leaves

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are solar cell devices that work using electrochemical principles in which sensitive dyes are absorbed in the titanium dioxide (TiO2) photo-electrode layer. One of the key components of dye sensitized solar cells for developing high performance devices is the dye, which acts as the photosensitizer. However, using natural dyes from plant sources has produced low power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to organic synthetic dyes. In this study, the performance of locally extracted dye from Lagerstroemia speciosa leaves and flowers has been determined by simulation using MATLAB based on TiO2 by modifying the internal parameters such as the absorption coefficient and diffusion coefficient, external, and previous DSSC research data. The simulation produced a high-power conversion efficiency and current density of 1.82% and 14.32 mA/cm-2 respectively. The results obtained from the simulation shows that this plant can be used as photosensitizers in DSSCs in the future.