Role of an Anionic Surfactant and Reductant in Photo Galvanic Cell for Solar Energy Conversion and Storage

Abstract

Photogalvanic cell is a type of solar cell in which solar energy convert into electrical energy via formation of energy rich species that exhibit the photogalvanic effect. Photogalvanic effect was studies in a photogalvanic cell containing Rhodamine 6G-EDTA-NaLS system. The observed cell performance in terms of maximum potential, maximum photocurrent, short-circuit current, power at power point, conversion efficiency and storage capacity in terms of half change time are -1162 mV, 510 μA, 450 μA, 131.60 μW, 1.26 % and 2.8 h, respectively . The mechanism was proposed for the generation of photocurrent in photogalvanic cell. It is also viewed that the Rhodamine 6G-EDTA-NaLS based photogalvanic cell, with additional advantage of low cost and storage capacity, can give electrical output comparable to that for commercially used power property lacking photogalvanic cells.