Aulia Anisa Firdaus

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

Endhah Purwandari

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia,

Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Jember Jl. Kalimantan 37 Jember 68121, Indonesia

Retno Asih

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

Ahmad Sholih

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

Darminto

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Data Analytics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19184/cerimre.v6i1.39254

ABSTRACT 

The optical energy gap of the semiconducting intrinsic layer plays an important role in increasing efficiency of the material. The carbon-based biomass can be an alternative to the silicon used as material in the solar cell. Here, we investigate the best biomass that can be used as a semiconductor part in solar cell applications. Coconut shells as bio-waste and palmyra sap, which is available in most areas of Indonesia, can be the best candidates to be evaluated. The methodology that is being used here involves a carbonization process at high temperatures of around 300oC for 2 hours and 400oC for 5 hours to obtain high-carbon charcoal for palmyra sap and coconut shells, respectively. The XRD measurement showed both organic materials have an amorphous phase, and for coconut shells sample, has two broad peaks that are identical with graphene peaks, therefore, this material is called graphenic-like carbon (GC). Furthermore, from the UV-visible spectroscopy, it was shown that both materials have a high transmittance of more than 95%, which indicates that they have transparant properties. Also by the Tauc plot method, it gives information about the optical energy gap of coconut shell charcoal (GC) and palmyra sap (a-C) around 2.67 and 1.83 eV, respectively. From this result, both raw materials are in the range of semiconductors, and for palmyra sap material, it can be the best candidate to be applied as an intrinsic layer for semiconducting parts in solar cell applications.

Keywords: Amorphous phase, coconut shells charcoal, optical energy gap, palmyra sugar.