Investigation on electrochemical analysis of ZnO nanoparticles and its performance for dye-sensitized solar cells using various natural dyes

The dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated using five different dyes extracted from the Ixora flower, Pongame leaves, Neem leaves, Pongame leaves, and Almond fruit. ZnO nanoparticle has been prepared via the solvothermal method. The prepared samples were characterized by structural properties of XRD, FE-SEM EDAX, and HR-TEM, Optical properties of UV–Visible and FTIR studies, and Conductivity studies of EIS spectra. The effect of natural dye extract from chlorophyll and anthocyanin pigment group was investigated for the performance of J-V characterization. The efficiency of almond extract of solar cells is found to be better than that of the other four solar cells. [Display omitted] •The hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO nanoparticles was synthesized via the solvothermal method.•The FESEM of the ZnO nanoparticles exhibits a hexagons shaped particles.•The electrochemical impedance analysis shows a good bonding behaviour for the almond fruits.•From the J-V curve, the efficiency of almond based ZnO device given the best efficiency better than the other natural photo-anode devices.