Natural dye-sensitive solar cells (N-DSSCs) are fabricated using TiO2/1 wt% SrTiO3 as photoanodes

Primary colors RGB were extracted from a natural dye extract using water from Terminalia catappa (as R), Azadirachta indica (as G) and Clitoria ternatea (as B). Pure TiO2 and the composite photo-anode containing 1 wt% SrTiO3 were fabricated on FTO plate and analyzed using XRD analysis. For the purpose of evaluating the extracted sensitizer's adsorption capacity, the functional group was used in FTIR analysis. The photo-anode with pure TiO2 sensitized with R, G and B is referred to as RA, GA and BA, while the photo-anode with 1 wt% SrTiO3 is referred to as RD, GD and BD. Using UV–Vis DRS and PL spectra, dye-anchored photo-anodes' capacity for light harvesting and rate of recombination were investigated. The use of 1 wt% SrTiO3 in N-DSSCs results in higher conversion efficiency (η) of 0.69 % for R, 0.84 % for G and 0.37 % for B compared to conventional TiO2-based photo-anodes. These results highlight the significance of mixing 1 wt% of SrTiO3 to standard N-DSSCs based on TiO2 in order to improve their performance and create the most affordable, environmentally safe N-DSSCs feasible. [Display omitted] •N-DSSC's were fabricated using TiO2/1 wt% SrTiO3 as photo-anodes.•Reduced recombination rate compared to pure TiO2 photo-anodes.•N-DSSCs with 1 wt% of SrTiO3 shows enhanced efficiency than pure TiO2.•The addition of 1 wt% of SrTiO3 significantly enhances the Jsc and Voc of TiO2-based N-DSSCs.