Prodigiosin, a natural pigment produced as a secondary metabolite by the non-photosynthetic bacterium Serratia marcescens, was tested as a sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The strain S. marcescens 11E, which was isolated from a natural spring located in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, was cultivated on peanut oil broth 1% v/v, a culture medium which is known to enhance the production of prodigiosin. The resulting pigment was extracted with chloroform and identified as prodigiosin based on the spectroscopic and structural characteristics obtained by UV–Vis spectrophotometry along with FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopies. The initial absorbance decomposition test performed on the bacterial pigment demonstrated that prodigiosin exhibited high photostability after five days, while the photovoltaic performance test of the sensitized DSSC, resulted in an open voltage circuit of 560 mV, a current density of 0.096 mA/cm², and efficiency of 0.032%. Structurally, the DSSC consisted of a titanium dioxide (TiO₂) photoanode sensitized with the pigment by direct adsorption, an electrolyte containing a redox pair I⁻/I³⁻ and a cathode or counter electrode prepared from a carbon paste. Since the overproduction of prodigiosin can be easily achieved on a large scale through the rapid fermentation of agro-industrial residues throughout the year without the need to allocate surfaces for the cultivation of pigment-producing plants or wait for specific seasons for their cultivation, our results suggest that prodigiosin could be considered an excellent candidate to be used in the development of a low-tech, low-cost DSSC.

Prodigiosin是由非光合细菌粘质沙雷氏菌（Serratia marcescens）作为次生代谢产物产生的天然色素，已在染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）中作为敏化剂进行了测试。菌株Marcescens11E是从位于墨西哥东北部新莱昂州的天然泉水中分离出来的，在1％v / v的花生油肉汤中培养，该培养基已知可增强prodigiosin的产生。所得颜料用氯仿萃取，并根据紫外-可见分光光度法以及FTIR和1H NMR光谱学获得的光谱和结构特征鉴定为prodigiosin。对细菌色素进行的初始吸光度分解测试表明，prodigiosin在五天后表现出高光稳定性，而敏化DSSC的光伏性能测试导致开路电压为560 mV，电流密度为0.096 mA / cm ²，效率为0.032％。在结构上，DSSC由一个二氧化钛（二氧化钛₂通过直接吸附在颜料敏化）光电阳极，含有氧化还原对我的电解质^- / I ^3-和阴极电极或对电极由碳糊制备。由于全年可以通过农用工业残留物的快速发酵轻松地大规模生产prodigiosin，因此无需分配表面来种植色素生产植物或等待特定季节的种植，因此我们的结果提示prodigiosin可以被认为是开发低技术，低成本DSSC的绝佳选择。