Mario Alejandro Mejía Escobar*, Frankin Jaramillo*
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.4, pp. 281-291, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634142
Abstract In recent years, the development of new materials has contributed markedly to improving the efficiency of
dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Mesoporous semiconductors, solid electrolyte, non-conventional catalysts
and synthetic dyes without ruthenium have been the focus of study. With respect to the last, lanthanides and
porphyrins have presented good properties, but these elements have the same disadvantage as rutheniumbased dyes; being complicated to synthesize and very expensive. These limitations have stimulated much
research in the use of natural dyes as sensitizers due to their exceptional photoelectochemical properties and
low cost. Furthermore, they are regarded as renewable More >