Abstract
In this study, Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a modified Stöber method for preparing the TiO2 mesoporous layer of carbon counter electrode-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) without a hole transporting layer. Compared with normal PSCs (without Ag@SiO2 incorporated in the TiO2 mesoporous layer), PSCs with an optimal content of Ag@SiO2 (0.3 wt. % Ag@SiO2-TiO2) show a 19.46% increase in their power conversion efficiency, from 12.23% to 14.61%, which is mainly attributed to the 13.89% enhancement of the short-circuit current density, from 20.23 mA/cm2 to 23.04 mA/cm2. These enhancements mainly contributed to the localized surface Plasmon resonance effect and the strong scattering effect of Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles. However, increasing the Ag@SiO2 concentration in the mesoporous layer past the optimum level cannot further increase the short-circuit current density and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of the devices, which is primarily ascribed to the electron transport pathways being impeded by the insulating silica shells inside the TiO2 network.
Highlights
Over the past few years, much significant progress has been made in the development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), such as the low-cost but high-efficiency CuSCN replacing spiro-OMeTAD [1], breakthroughs in large-area perovskite films fabrication [2] and constant improvements in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), from an initial 3.9% to 23.2% [3,4]
TEM images, XRD patterns and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) survey spectra showed that Ag was present in nanocrystal form and that Ag@SiO2 NPs were thoroughly mixed into the TiO2 mesoporous layer
UV-vis absorption spectra demonstrated that the optical absorption capacity of mesoporous TiO2 films and PSC devices can be improved with increased loading of Ag@SiO2 NPs (0–0.5 wt. %), which could be attributed to the strong localized surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) and scattering effects
Summary
Over the past few years, much significant progress has been made in the development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), such as the low-cost but high-efficiency CuSCN replacing spiro-OMeTAD [1], breakthroughs in large-area perovskite films fabrication [2] and constant improvements in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), from an initial 3.9% to 23.2% [3,4]. Due to the excellent photovoltaic properties of perovskite, such as large light-harvesting coefficient, long carrier diffusion distance and high carrier mobility [5,6,7,8,9], PSCs have a bright prospect of partly replacing conventional energy. Bella et al [10] made a 360-degree overview focusing on Cs-doping for PSCs to illustrate the excellent properties of Cs in perovskite-based devices. Bella et al [13] introduced the photoanodes and cathodes exclusively based on polymeric materials into dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and obtained a 5.33% power conversion efficiency. Abate et al [15] analyzed the critical points about currently limiting the industrial production of PSCs
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