Preparation of Fuel Pellets and Extraction of Natural Dyesfrom Falling Leaves to be used as Sensitizer in Dye Sensitized Solar Cell

Abstract

Natural dye sensitized solar cells due to their ease in fabrication and non-toxicity are of great interest in the field of energy conversion. In this study, three plants (a) Eugenia oleina (b) Muntingia calabura (c) Buxus sinica var (boxwood) have been selected due to their abundance in University of Malaya, Malaysia. Isopropyle alcohol has been utilized to extract the natural dye pigments from the falling leaves of these plants. Cocktail of these natural extract has also been investigated which displayed highest efficiency due to high light absorption ability. Another objective of this study is to use the spent leaves after extraction of dyeas fuel for heating purposes. The gross calorific value (GCV) has been measured using bomb calorimeter. The GCV values of individual and combined spent leaves were almost the same with very little difference. The maximum GCV value displayed by pellets prepared by spent leaves of Muntingia calabura was 16.84KJ/g.