Caratterizzazione quantitativa e qualitativa di componenti di celle solari di terza generazione Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC)

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are included among the third generation of photovoltaics generation. They have attracted attention due to the low cost fabrication, environmental sustainability and high potentiality to be brought to the market place. At the core of these devices there is a dye that, by absorbing light is able to generate an elctron flux that could be exploited by connecting a load to the external circuit. The performances are garanteed by the number of cycles the elctrons can make during time. Several molecules can be used as dye in DSSC like organo metallic, organic and natural dyes. This PhD thesis has been focused on the study of natural pigments used as dye never employed before in DSSC. Is shown how they are extracted and characterized by several experimental tchnique (HPLC, UV-VIS, current potential analysis), showing their perfomances. Influence of different components are also investigated in order to optimize the best combination of materials empolyed.