Photogalvanics of the lactic acid reductant - Carmoisine A photosensitizer-CAPB surfactant electrolyte: An optimization, stability and illumination window size effect

The photogalvanic cells presented in this research work are energy devices having dual role of simultaneous solar power generation and storage. The study of photogalvanics of the Lactic acid reductant-Carmoisine A photosensitizer- Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) surfactant-NaOH alkali has been done under artificial illumination for exploring a most suitable combination of photosensitizer, reductant and surfactant for further enhancing the solar harvesting efficiency. This combination of chemicals (Lactic acid-Carmoisine A-CAPB-NaOH) has shown remarkable improvement in the cell performance. The optimum conditions for cell have also been investigated for optimal cell performance. The electrical output of the cell has been found to depend on the cumulative effect of all cell fabrication variables. The observed power is of the order 1012.70 μW with efficiency 28.84 %. The electrical out-put of the photo-galvanic cells is found almost independent of the size of the illumination window. The initial power generated from the cell was ∼309.0 µW (taken as 100 %), and power at the end of 6th day was ∼0.0009 %. This long term study of the cell in post-illuminated dark conditions shows capacity of the cell to store and release the power over long period of time. Therefore, the Lactic acid reductant-Carmoisine A photosensitizer -CAPB surfactant combination is a good alternative for use in the fabrication of highly efficient photogalvanic cells.