Photodegradation and extraction study of natural dye from mango and papaya plant using distilled water as solvent / Nur Ardina Madihah Kamaruddin

Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) are a type of photovoltaic technology that used photosensitizer dye to absorb sunlight and generates electrical energy. These studies aimed to analyse the performance of photodegradation process using the leaf extract of Mangifera indica (mango leaf) and carica papaya (papaya leaf) in term of their light absorbance power and ability to generate electricity. However, the use of synthetic dye and metal cause several environments concerns due to its non-biodegradable nature. DSSC research are conducted to address this problem by using natural dye because natural dye serves as cost-effective, easy to prepare, non-toxic and eco-friendly alternatives for various applications. The main objective of this research is to observe the colour of extracted natural dye from mango and papaya leaves after left 1 days, 3 days and 5 days. Additionally, the research aims to analyse change in physical and chemical properties after photodegradation, and measure conductivity of natural dye (mango and papaya leaves) before and after sunlight exposure. The experimental method used in this research include extraction, photodegradation and quality testing. In this research, the parameter study for extraction were set at 1,3, and 5 days and the conductivity measurement were recorded. The result showed the highest conductivity reading is 5 days and the lowest one is 1 day for fresh mango leaf and papaya leaf. While highest conductivity for dried mango leaf is on 1 day and lowest on 5 days because of several factor occur while conducting this research. Overall, this is due to more time spend in extraction and darkest colour was extracted which making the reading conductivity is higher. Thus, the natural dye from mango and papaya plant waste was successful and can be further investigate in the other research in future.