Use of Anionic Micelles in Photogalvanic Cells for Solar Energy Conversion and Storage NaLS-Mannitol-Safranine System

This article presents principles of the photogalvanic effect in which compounds are broken up by sunlight into fragments that are electrochemically charged. These fragments usually recombine instantaneously if they are relieved of their electrical charges. Photogalvanic cells containing sodium lauryl sulphate as micellar species, mannitol as reductant, and safranine as photosensitizer were used to study the photogalvanic effect. The photopotential and photocurrent generated were 844.0 mV and 75.0 μA, respectively. The observed conversion efficiency was 0.2228% and the maximum power of the cell was 63.30 μW. The storage capacity of the photogalvanic cell was 102.0 minutes in darkness and the fill factor 0.31 also was determined.

The effect of variation of different parameters on electrical output along with i-v cell characteristics were observed and a mechanism also has been proposed for the generation of photocurrent in these photogalvanic cells.

Keywords:

• sodium lauryl sulphate
• mannitol
• safranine
• power point
• fill factor
• conversion efficiency