Enhancement of Photogalvanic Effect of Toluidine Blue Dye using Sodium Lauryl Sulphate as an Efficient Additive for Solar Energy Conversion and Storage

Abstract

In photogalvanic cells, electron transfer reactions can lead to the inexpensive production of solar power with an inherent storage capacity because in solution, the ions involved act as mobile charges through diffusion. This study improved the storage capacity and solar power of photogalvanic cells comprising ethylenediamine acetic acid (EDTA), toluidine blue and sodium lauryl sulphate (NaLS) as a reductant, photosensitizer and surfactant, respectively. The observed maximum photocurrent, photopotential, and open circuit voltage, of the photogalvanic cell were 150 A, 743 mV and 1065 mV, respectively. The efficiency of conversion cells was approximately 0.2630%. In the dark, the storage capacity (t_0.5) was 124 min for the photogalvanic cell. The optimization of the influence of different parameters such as variation in photosensitizer concentration, surfactant, reductant, pH, and temperature as well as the electrical output was performed. A mechanism was proposed for photocurrent generation in the photogalvanic cell.