Fabrication of efficient dye-sensitized solar cells with photoanode containing TiO2–Au and TiO2–Ag plasmonic nanocomposites

Herein, we report the effect of incorporation of two types of plasmonic nanocomposites, TiO 2 –Au and TiO 2 –Ag in different ratios, in the TiO 2 photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD) has been utilized for the deposition of these nanocomposite p...

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Published in:Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2018-11, Vol.29 (21), p.18209-18220
Main Authors: Bhardwaj, Swati, Pal, Arnab, Chatterjee, Kuntal, Rana, Tushar H., Bhattacharya, Gourav, Sinha Roy, Susanta, Chowdhury, Papia, Sharma, Ganesh D., Biswas, Subhayan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption spectra
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Dye-sensitized solar cells
Dyes
Electrophoretic deposition
Energy conversion efficiency
Gold
Materials Science
Nanocomposites
Optical and Electronic Materials
Optical density
Photoanodes
Photoluminescence
Photovoltaic cells
Silver
Size distribution
Spectrum analysis
Titanium dioxide
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:Herein, we report the effect of incorporation of two types of plasmonic nanocomposites, TiO 2 –Au and TiO 2 –Ag in different ratios, in the TiO 2 photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD) has been utilized for the deposition of these nanocomposite photoanodes. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that the nanocomposites, TiO 2 –Au and TiO 2 –Ag, have a wide size distribution of Au (5–60 nm) and Ag (20–130 nm) nanoparticles embedded in the TiO 2 matrix. The UV–Visible absorption spectra of these nanocomposite films reveal the enhancement in the optical density due to the plasmonic effect. The DSSC based on photoanode consists of plasmonic nanocomposite TiO 2 –Au:TiO 2 –Ag (3:1 ratio) showed power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.9% which is 187% higher than that pristine TiO 2 counterpart. The enhancement in the PCE has been confirmed by the photoluminescence and electro-impedance spectroscopy indicating that both Au and Ag play an important role in enhancing the PCE of DSSCs due to the plasmonic effect.
ISSN:0957-4522
1573-482X
DOI:10.1007/s10854-018-9934-y