Abstract
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using open-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube arrays functionalized with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) in the channel to create a plasmonic effect, and then coated with large TiO2 NPs to create a scattering effect in order to improve energy conversion efficiency. Compared to closed-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube array–based DSSCs without Ag or large TiO2 NPs, the energy conversion efficiency of closed-ended DSSCs improved by 9.21% (actual efficiency, from 5.86% to 6.40%) with Ag NPs, 6.48% (actual efficiency, from 5.86% to 6.24%) with TiO2 NPs, and 14.50% (actual efficiency, from 5.86% to 6.71%) with both Ag NPs and TiO2 NPs. By introducing Ag NPs and/or large TiO2 NPs to open-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube array–based DSSCs, the energy conversion efficiency was improved by 9.15% (actual efficiency, from 6.12% to 6.68%) with Ag NPs and 8.17% (actual efficiency, from 6.12% to 6.62%) with TiO2 NPs, and by 15.20% (actual efficiency, from 6.12% to 7.05%) with both Ag NPs and TiO2 NPs. Moreover, compared to closed-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube arrays, the energy conversion efficiency of open-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube arrays increased from 6.71% to 7.05%. We demonstrate that each component—Ag NPs, TiO2 NPs, and open-ended freestanding TiO2 nanotube arrays—enhanced the energy conversion efficiency, and the use of a combination of all components in DSSCs resulted in the highest energy conversion efficiency.
Highlights
Since the original work by O’Regan and Grätzel in 1991 [1], dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been investigated extensively because of their high energy conversion efficiency and low cost [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
We demonstrated that the plasmonic and scattering effects enhanced the energy conversion efficiency of freestanding TiO2 nanotube arrays in DSSCs
Ag NPs were added to the channels of TiO2 nanotube arrays by UV irradiation to induce a plasmonic effect, and large TiO2 NPs were introduced to TiO2 nanotube arrays to induce a scattering effect
Summary
Since the original work by O’Regan and Grätzel in 1991 [1], dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been investigated extensively because of their high energy conversion efficiency and low cost [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. TiO2 nanotube arrays prepared by anodization have a well-ordered and vertically oriented tubular structure that facilitates a high degree of electron transport and less charge recombination than mesoporous TiO2 NP films [25,26,27]. There is much room for improvement in the energy conversion efficiency of current DSSCs based on TiO2 nanotube arrays compared to the relatively extensively researched mesoporous TiO2 NP film–based DSSCs [28]
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