Tagetes erecta (marigold) flower extract in the different solvents used as a capping agent and sensitizer for TiO2 photoanode based DSSC
This study utilizes acetonitrile (ACN), DI-water, and hexane as solvents, investigating their extraction efficiency from Tagetes erecta (TE) flowers. The UV–visible spectral study revealed greater absorbance for the hexane extract compared to ACN and DI-water extracts. HR-MS revealed the key constit...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Next Materials |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949822825003934 |
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| Summary: | This study utilizes acetonitrile (ACN), DI-water, and hexane as solvents, investigating their extraction efficiency from Tagetes erecta (TE) flowers. The UV–visible spectral study revealed greater absorbance for the hexane extract compared to ACN and DI-water extracts. HR-MS revealed the key constituents present in extracts obtained in different solvents. Functional characterization of TE extracts was carried out using FT-IR studies. DFT calculations highlighted HOMO and LUMO levels along with the role of various key constituents in photoelectron transfer to the TiO2 conduction band. Further, this study explores the utilization of TE flower extracts, focusing on two applications: capping agents for synthesizing TiO2 nanoparticles and natural sensitizers in DSSCs. For the capped TiO2, XRD analyses confirmed the anatase phase. FT-IR spectra showed the functionality of synthesized TiO2 material, and HRTEM analysis indicated a smaller particle size (14.54 nm) for hexane extract-based-capped TiO2. EIS studies revealed that the hexane extract-based device has lower charge transfer resistance and longer electron lifetimes than acetonitrile, DI-water and un-capped samples. DSSC assembled with hexane-extract-based capped-TiO2 demonstrated higher efficiency than its un-capped counterpart. When TE extracts were utilized as a sensitizer, UV–visible spectra of photoanode sensitized by hexane extract exhibited greater light harvesting than ACN and DI-water based extracts. DSSC assembled utilizing hexane-based sensitizers demonstrated higher efficiency, outperforming ACN and DI-water-based sensitizers as well as that of bare TiO2. These findings underline the potential of hexane as an effective solvent for extracting bioactive compounds from TE and its further use as sensitizer dye for TiO2 based DSSC. |
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| ISSN: | 2949-8228 |