Fucoxanthin from the Antarctic Himantothallus grandifollius as a sensitizer in DSSC

Fucoxanthin extracts obtained from the Antarctic brown algae Himantothallus grandifollius were explored in DSSC, achieving 0.14% conversion efficiency when co-sensitized with round silver nanoparticles. Fucoxanthin has some essential characteristics fulfilling necessary attributes for a sensitizer. It is adsorbed to the FTO/TiO 2 electrode as confirmed by FTIR and TG-DSC techniques. Besides, establishing bonds between the –OH functional groups of fucoxanthin and titanium increased the compound's stability. And also, fucoxanthin has an adequate redox potential of 1.3 V to allow electron transfer to the TiO 2 . These characteristics suggest the application of fucoxanthin as a sensitizer in DSSC, particularly when co-adsorbed with silver nanoparticles. The presence of nanoparticles assured a better surface coverage, and integrated within the fucoxanthin net, improved the recombination times, fill factor and Voc values of the assembled cells and, thus, the conversion efficiency. Extracted easily from brown seaweeds, the application of fucoxanthin as a sensitizer in dye-solar cells offers an alternative to profit large amounts of biomass from, for example, invasive sources such as Sargasso.