Facile one-pot synthesis of multi-shaped silver nanoparticles with tunable ultra-broadband absorption for efficient light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

• Published in: Solar energy materials and solar cells 2018-10, Vol.185, p.104-110
• Main Authors: Joshi, Dhavalkumar N., Ilaiyaraja, P., Sudakar, C., Prasath, R. Arun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorption; Absorption rates; Absorptivity; Broadband; Broadband absorbance; Chemical synthesis; DSSCs; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Dyes; Electromagnetic absorption; Energy conversion efficiency; LSPR; Morphology; Multi-shaped AgNPs; Nanoparticles; Photovoltaic cells; Plasmonic; Reaction time; Resonance; Silver; Solar cells; Spectra; Spectral sensitivity; Surface chemistry; Surface plasmon resonance
• ISSN: 0927-0248; 1879-3398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2018.05.018

We report a facile one-pot synthesis of the multi-shaped anisotropic plasmonic Ag nanostructures (Mx-AgNPs) and demonstrated for the broadband plasmonic enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The UV–Vis spectra obtained during the synthesis of AgNPs revealed the fine-tuning of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak and the occurrence of broadband multiple SPR peak with an increase in reaction time. The TEM images confirm the collective presence of different shapes/sizes of the Ag nanoparticles (including sphere, oval, polygon, triangular, rod and some irregular morphologies). The resultant ultra-broadband LSPR from the Mx-AgNPs were utilized to improve the total light absorption coefficient of N719 dye. We observed that the photoanode film incorporated with of Mx-AgNPs enhances light harvesting of the dye up to 60% over an entire visible region. The effects of Mx-AgNPs in the photoanode film on the efficiency and the spectral response of the DSSCs were further evaluated experimentally. Substantial improvement with the considerable broadening in the spectral response was observed in the ‘incident photon- to current conversion efficiency’ (IPCE) spectra for the plasmonic DSSCs. The ‘power conversion efficiency’ (PCE) for the best performing plasmonic DSSCs found to improve by ~ 30% for the plasmonic DSSCs. The observed improvement in the efficiency was mainly attributed to the significant enhancement of the light harvesting capacity of the DSSCs resulted by ultra-broadband surface plasmon resonance of the Mx-AgNPs. •The multi-shaped plasmonic nanoparticles synthesized via facile one-pot chemical reduction.•As-synthesized AgNPs possessed tunable and broadband surface plasmon resonance.•Light absorption of the plasmonic based photoanode improved significantly.•Photo-conversion efficiency of the DSSCs improved by ~30% by incorporating this AgNPs.