Photogalvanic effect was studied in a photogalvanic cell containing NaLS-ascorbic acid and Azur A as a surfactant, reductant and photosensitizer, respectively. The photopotential and photocurrent generated by this system were 770 mV and 160 mu A, respectively. The effect of different parameters like pH, diffusion length, electrode area, light intensity, temperature, etc. on the electrical output of the cell were observed, current-voltage characteristics of the cell have also been studied and mechanism has been proposed for the generation of photocurrent in photogalvanic cell. The observed conversion efficiency and storage capacity for this system were 0.5461 and 110.0 min, respectively. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.