The photogalvanic conversion of solar energy into electrical energy in thiazine dye - anionic surfactant system

Department of Chemistry, J. N. V. University, Jodhpur-342 005, Rajasthan, India E-mail : krg2004@rediffmail.com Manuscript received 12 September 2008, revised 17- September 2009, accepted 9 November 2009 Photogalvanic effect in a photogalvanic cell containing Dioctyl Sulfosuccinate Sodium Salt (DSSS) as surfactant, EDTA as a reductant and Azur A as a photosensitizer is studied. The effect of surfactant (DSSS), photosensitizer, reductant, pH, diffusion length electrode area and temperature on electrical output of the cell are studied. The observed photogalvanic potential and photocurrent are 638 mV and 220 µA respectively. The observed conversion efficiency is 0.8723%, fill factor 0;2794. The cell performance is 85.0 min in dark (the storage capacity of cell In dark). The effect or different parameters on the electrical output of the cell are observed, current voltage characteristics of the cell have also been studied and mechanism has been proposed for the generation or photocurrent in photogalvanic cell