With the increasingly shrinking reserves of fossil-based energy, as well as the damaging effects of the use of fossil-based energy sources such as the greenhouse effect and global warming, efforts are needed to find energy alternatives. One device being developed as an alternative source of renewable energy by utilizing solar energy source is dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) that works using simple photosynthetic-electrochemical principle in the molecular level. In this device, the inorganic

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... ide semiconductors such as TiO2 has a great potential for the absorption of the photon energy from the solar, especially in the form of TiO2 nanoparticle structure. In this study, a commercial TiO2 nanoparticle was used. The asreceived TiO2 nanoparticle was characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). For sensitizer, natural dye extracted from mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) pericarps was used. The extracted natural dye was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) for the functional groups, whereas the ultra violet-visible (UV-Vis) was used to examined the absorption activity of the extracted natural dye. The performance of DSSC was analyzed through a precision current versus potential different (I-V) curve analyzer. The maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the mangosteen natural dye was given by yhe one extracted using ethanol containing 20% distilled water as compared to the commercial organic dye with PCE of 4.02%. This result is convincing and promising for the next development.