Ag@Nb2O5 plasmonic blocking layer for higher efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells

Engineering photons on a nanoscale via guidance and localization by metal nanostructures has a profound influence on the performance of devices that try to mimic the process of photosynthesis. The conventional route for the synthesis of plasmonic nanoparticles and their integration into the porous s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2018, Vol.47 (13), p.4685-4700
Main Authors: Suresh, S, Unni, Gautam E, Satyanarayana, M, Nair, A Sreekumaran, Mahadevan Pillai, V P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dye-sensitized solar cells
Dyes
Efficiency
Nanoparticles
Niobium oxides
Photons
Photosynthesis
Photovoltaic cells
Silver
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Summary:Engineering photons on a nanoscale via guidance and localization by metal nanostructures has a profound influence on the performance of devices that try to mimic the process of photosynthesis. The conventional route for the synthesis of plasmonic nanoparticles and their integration into the porous structure of the photoanode either directly or after being capped with a dielectric material not only adds to the complexity but also to the cost of the cell. The present study introduces the concept of a plasmonic blocking layer that concurrently acts as a light harvester and an electron-blocking layer in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), wherein the plasmonic silver nanoparticles are incorporated into an Nb2O5 blocking layer by a simple one-step process. The cell with the plasmonic blocking layer achieves an efficiency of 9.24% when compared with a cell with a non-plasmonic blocking layer (7.6%), registering an impressive enhancement in the efficiency by 22%. Moreover, the cell with the plasmonic blocking layer shows an improvement in the efficiency by 49% when compared with the cell without a blocking layer (6.19%).
ISSN:1477-9226
1477-9234
DOI:10.1039/c7dt04825d