International Research Journal of Environment Sciences__________________________________ISSN 2319–1414Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 31 Role of Ponceau-S-KI System for Generation of Electrical Energy in Photo galvanic Cell Chandra Mahesh Department of Chemistry, Deshbandhu College, New Dehli, INDIAAvailable online at: www.isca.in Received 09st December 2012, revised 25 December 2012, accepted 9 January 2012 AbstractPhoto galvanic effect was studied in photo galvanic cells containing Ponceau-S as dyes and KI as reductants. The photo galvanic cells were determined the photo potential, photocurrent, conversion efficiency, power of cell and performance of cell .The effects of various parameters like pH, light intensity, diffusion length, reductant concentration and dye concentration on the electrical output of the cell is studied. The current voltage (i–V) characteristic of the cell is also studied and a mechanism for the generation of photocurrent is proposed. Keywords: Photo galvanic cell, photo potential, Ponceau-S, KI, photocurrent. IntroductionThe global warming and the rapid decrease in energy resources caused by the large-scale consumption of fossil fuels have become a serious problem. Accordingly, renewable energy resources are attracting a great deal of attention and solar energy will be one of the most promising future energy resources. In the present investigation, Ponceau-S has been used as photo sensitizer and KI as reductant for generation of electrical energy in photo galvanic cell. The photo effects in electrochemical systems were first reported by Becquerel1,2. Alonso et al. reported the use of electrodeposited CdSeO-5 TeO-5 electrode for solar energy conversion. Jana and Bhowmik reported enhancement in the power output of a solar cell consisting of mixed dyes. Hara et al. investigated design of new coumarin dyes having thiophene moieties for highly efficient organic dye-sensitized solar cells. It has been reported the use of toluidine blue nitroloacetic acid (TB-NTA), in Azur A-KI Bromophenol-EDTA8 and Fluoroscein-EDTA systems. Similarly, it has been reported that the photo galvanic cells for classroom investigation10 and femto-second excited state dynamics of an iron (II) polypyridyl solar cell11. Schwarzhurg and Willig explored the origin of photo voltage and photocurrent in nanoporous, dye-sensitized, photo electrochemical solar cell12. The sensitization of nanoporous films on TiO with santaline (red sandal wood pigment) and the construction of a dye–sensitized solid state photovoltaic cell were attempted by Tennakone and Kumara13. Yadav et al. reported use of bismarck brown-ascorbic acid (BB-AA) system in photo galvanic cell for solar energy conversion14. A detailed literature survey reveals that different photo sensitizers and reductant have been used in photo galvanic cell15-19.Methodology All the solutions were prepared in doubly-distilled water and stored in amber-colored containers to protect them from light. A mixture of the solution of the dye, KI, sodium hydroxide and water were filled into an H-shaped glass cell. A platinum electrode (1 × 1 cm) was placed in one compartment of the cell and a reference saturated calomel electrode (SCE) in the other compartment. The platinum electrode was exposed to a 200 W tungsten lamp while the SCE was kept in the dark. The temperature of the system was maintained at 303 K (±0.1). A water filter was used to cut-off infrared radiations. A digital pH meter and a microammeter were used to measure the potential and current, respectively. The current–voltage characteristics were determined by applying extra load with the help of carbon pot (log 500 K) connected in the circuit. With this variable resistor (carbon pot), current-voltage curve was plotted.Results and Discussion Effect of pH: The effect of pH on the electrical output of the cell is shown in figure 1. Photo potential and photocurrent are increased with increasing pH until at pH 13. Further increase in pH results in a decrease in the electrical output of the cell. The dependence of photo potential and photocurrent on the concentration of the dye was studied and the results are shown in Figure 2. On increasing the concentration of Ponceau-S, both the photo potential and the photocurrent increase till a maximum is achieved at 4.8 × 10 6 M, after which both characteristics are decreased. A small output is obtained at a low concentration of Ponceau-S because a smaller number of dye molecules are available for excitation and consecutive donation of electrons to the platinum electrode. A large concentration of dye results in a decrease in photo potential because the intensity of light reaching the dye molecules (near International Research Journal of Environment Sciences______________________________________________ ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 32 the electrode) decreases due to the major portion of the light being absorbed by the dyes available in its path. Effect of KI concentration: The dependence of photopotential and photocurrent on the concentration of the reductant (that is, KI) was studied and the results are shown in figure 3. Both the photopotential and the photocurrent achieve maximum values at the concentration of 2 × 10 3 M of KI. At low concentrations, the power output is small due to the fewer number of reductant molecules available for electron donation to the dye molecules, whereas a large concentration of reductant hinders the movement of dye molecules reaching the electrode in the desired time limit. Figure-1Variation of photo potential and photocurrent with pH Effect of Ponceau-S concentration Figure-2 Variation of photopotential and photocurrent Ponceau-S concentration Ponceau - S - KI system 620 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 12.6 12.8 13 13.2 13.4 pH Photo potential (mV) 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 Photocurrent (µA) phot opotential phtocurrent Ponceau - S - KI system 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 1.6 3.2 4.8 6.4 8 Rose Bengal concentration Photo potential (mV) 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 Photocurrent (µA) Photo potential Photocurrent International Research Journal of Environment Sciences______________________________________________ ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 33 The variation of two electric parameters with light intensity is shown in figure 4. The photocurrent is linearly increased with increasing in the intensity of the light, whereas the photopotential is increased in a logarithmic manner. The number of photons per unit area (incident power) that strike the dye molecules around the platinum electrode increases with the increase in the light intensity. Hence, the photocurrent and the photopotential of the photo galvanic cell are favorably increased. Effect of diffusion length: H-cells of different dimensions were used to study the effect of the variation of diffusion length on the current parameters of the cell (imax, eq and initial rate of current generation). The results are shown in Figure 5. There was a sharp increase in photocurrent (imax) initially. This behavior indicates an initial rapid reaction, followed by a slow rate-determining step at a later stage. Current voltage (i–V) characteristics, conversion efficiency and performance of the cell: The open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current (isc) of the photogalvanic cell were measured by means of a digital multi-meter (keeping the circuit open) and a micro-ammeter (keeping the circuit closed), respectively. The current and potential between two extreme values (Voc and isc) were recorded with the assistance of a carbon pot (linear 470 K) that was connected in the circuit of the multi-meter and through which an external load was applied. The i–V characteristic of the cell containing a Ponceau-S KI system is shown in Figure 6. With the help of the i–V curve, the fill factor and conversion efficiency of the cell are found to be 0.55 and 0.9960 %, respectively, using the formula:Fill Factor = scocpppp ´ Conversion Efficiency = 100 4 . 10 2´ ´ - mWcm ppppThe potential and the current at the power point [A point in the i–V curve is called the power point (pp) and was determined where the product of photocurrent and photo potential is maximum] are represented by Vpp and ipp, respectively. The performance of the cell was studied by applying the external load that was necessary to have the current and the potential at the power point after removing the source of light. The cell can be used in the dark at its power point for 86 min, whereas photovoltaic cell cannot be used in the dark even for a second, a photogalvanic system has the advantage of being used in the dark but at lower conversion efficiency. Figure-3 Variation of photo potential and photocurrent with KI concentration Ponceau - S - KI sy stem 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 1.6 3.2 4.8 6.4 8 Ponceau - S - KI concentration Photo potential (mV) 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 Photocurrent (µA) Photo potential Photocurrent International Research Journal of Environment Sciences______________________________________________ ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 34 Effect of light intensityFigure-4 Variation of photopotential and photocurrent with light intensityFigure-5 Variation of current with diffusion length Ponceau - S - KI System 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 35 4 0 45 50 55 Diffusion Length (mm) Photo current (µA) 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 12.5 13 13.5 14 14.5 15 Rate (µA minŻ 1) Max.photocurrent Equi.photocurrnt Rate Ponceau - S - KI system 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 3.1 5.2 10.4 15.6 26 Light Intensity (mw/cm 2 ) Photocurrent (µA) 2.85 2.87 2.89 2.91 2.93 2.95 2.97 2.99 Photocurrent Log V Log V International Research Journal of Environment Sciences______________________________________________ ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 35 Figure-6 Current-potential (i-V curve) of the Ponceau-S- KI cell systems Mechanism: As no reaction is observed between the Ponceau-S and KI in the dark, it may be concluded that the redox potential of KI is much higher than that of Ponceau-S. A rapid fall in potential is observed when the platinum electrode is illuminated. The potential reaches a steady value after certain period of exposure. Although the direction of the change of potential is reversed on removing the source of light, the potential does not returns to its initial value. This means that the main reversible photochemical reaction is also accompanied by some side irreversible reactions. The electro active species in this photo galvanic system is thus different from that of the well-studied thionine–iron (II) system. In the present case, the leuco- or semi reduced dye is considered to be the electrode active species in the illuminated chamber and the dye itself in dark chamber. On the basis of the information gained previously, the mechanism of photocurrent generation in the photo galvanic cell can be represented as follows:Illuminated Chamber Bulk solution hPS PS PS + R PS + RAt electrode PS PS + e - (Platinum electrode) Dark chamber At electrode PS + e - PS Bulk solution PS + R+ PS + R (SCE electrode) Where, R, R+, PS, PS are the reductant KI, its oxidized form, Ponceau-S and its leuco or semileuco forms, respectively. Conclusion On the basis of the results, it is concluded that Ponceau-S can be used successfully as a photo sensitizer in a photo galvanic cell. The conversion efficiency of the cell is 0.9960% and the cell can be used in dark at its power point for 86 min. Photo galvanic cells have the advantages of having in-built storage capacity. Thus, photo galvanic cells show good prospects of becoming commercially viable. AcknowledgementsThe Authors are grateful to the Principal, Deshbandhu College, kalkaji, New Delhi for providing the necessary laboratory facilities to conduct this research works. Ponceau - S - KI System 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 Photo potential Photocurre nt Photocurrent International Research Journal of Environment Sciences______________________________________________ ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 2(1), 31-36, January (2013) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. International Science Congress Association 36 References 1.Becquerel E., Studies of the effect of actinic radiation of sunlight by means of electrical currents, C.R. Acad.Sci.Paris. 9, 145–159 (1839 a) 2.Becquerel E., on electric effects under the influence of solar radiation, C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris., 9, 561 (1839 b). 3.Alanso V.N., Belay M., Chartier P. and Ern V., Rev. Phys. 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