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An experimental and DFT study on novel dyes incorporated with natural dyes on titanium dioxide (TiO2) towards solar cell application

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Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films were deposited on fluorine tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrate using spin-coating techniques and as-deposited films were sensitized with various dyes. A series of azo derivatives (2, 5a-b) having different structures were successfully prepared through the process of the azo coupling reaction. KAZO 6 was successfully synthesized by esterification of kojic acid obtained from sago waste with azo 5a. These azo dye were examined using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) to obtain the vertical excitation, electron distribution, energy levels, band gap, and light-harvesting efficiency in the ground and excited state. The obtained values exhibited a good correlation with the experimental values. Efficiency enhancement was reported by the incorporation of KAZO 6 with curcumin extracted from turmeric. Spectroscopy and optical properties of synthesized dyes were characterized using CHNS elemental analysis, FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and UV–Vis spectroscopies. KAZO 6 displayed an efficiency of 1.59% compared to azo derivatives 0.13–1.12%. The efficiency of KAZO 6 enhanced from 1.59 to 1.74% with the incorporation of turmeric dye.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Tianjin University for providing startup research fund. This work was also supported by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation under F07/FRGS/1883/2019 and FRGS/ST01 (01)/1298/2015(15).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Muhammad Kashif & Zhiqiang Zuo

  2. Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Zainab Ngaini

  3. Electronic Technology, Sibu Vocational College, Jalan Deshon, 96000, Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Angelina Viviana Harry

  4. Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rohit L. Vekariya

  5. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rohit L. Vekariya

  6. Department of Chemistry, University of Lahore, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

    Awais Ahmad

  7. Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Siti Kudnie Sahari

  8. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Shahid Hussain

  9. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, COMSATS University, Islamabad, Attock Campus, Pakistan

    Zuhaib Ashfaq Khan

  10. Catalytic Chemistry Research Chair, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Alarifi

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  1. Muhammad Kashif
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Kashif, M., Ngaini, Z., Harry, A.V. et al. An experimental and DFT study on novel dyes incorporated with natural dyes on titanium dioxide (TiO2) towards solar cell application. Appl. Phys. A 126, 716 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-020-03896-6

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