Plasmon-enhanced photocurrent generation in quantum dots-sensitized solar cells by coupling of gold nanocrystals

• Published in: 中国科学通报：英文版 2015 (5), p.541-548
• Main Author: Ke Cheng Yangqing Wu Jian Meng Yaolong Zhao Xiaoyun Wang Zuliang Du
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 光电器件; 太阳能电池; 敏化; 流产; 纳米晶体; 耦合等离子体; 量子点; 金属纳米粒子
• ISSN: 1001-6538; 1861-9541

The noble metal nanoparticles, such as gold, silver and copper, has been widely incorporated into the photoelectronic devices acting as a light-harvesting an- tenna and enhancing photocurrents through their light scattering or localized surface plasmon resonance effects. Here, this article presented the investigations into the use of gold nanocrystals to realize the plasmon-enhanced photocurrent generation in TiO2 nanorod-based quantum dots-sensitized solar cells （QDSSCs）. By introducing the gold nanocrystals, the short-circuit current density （Jsc） of QDSSCs was enhanced more than 10 % from 7.788 to 8.574 mA/cm^2 due to the direct injection of hot electrons from the gold nanocrystals to the photoanode. In order to confirm such conclusion, composite Au/TiO2 nanostructure was also fabricated. Indeed, the hot electrons injection resulted photocurrent density of ～5 mA/cm^2 was clearly observed under the visible light irradiation.