High efficiency dye sensitized solar cells by excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance of AgNPs

Abstract

Noble metal particles have demonstrated significant potential in solar energy technologies which is attributed to their enhanced capability in light-harvesting, due to the plasmonic effects. The systematic design and formation of plasmonic dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by integrating Ag@TiO₂ core–shell nanoparticles (NPs) in two distinct configurations; on top of the TiO₂ and on the FTO transparent substrate were reported. The plasmonic effects were investigated systematically. The most efficient configuration is obtained by incorporating Ag@TiO₂ NPs with a simple architecture of FTO/c-TiO₂/m-TiO₂/AgNPs@TiO₂ which results to increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 0.071 % to 0.384 %, demonstrating ~5.45 time’s enhancement, compared with the reference device without the metal NPs. The enhancement is attributed to the increase in light harvesting due to increased optical path length caused by light scattering of metallic nanostructures. This strategy demonstrates a novel structure to enhance the performance of photovoltaic device.