Abstract
As metal nanostructures demonstrated extraordinary plasmon resonance, their optical characteristics have widely been investigated in photo-electronic applications. However, there has been no clear demonstration on the location effect of plasmonic metal layer within the photoanode on both optical characteristics and photovoltaic performances. In this research, the gold (Au) nano-islands (NIs) film was embedded at different positions within the TiO2 nanoparticulate photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) to check the effect of plasmon resonance location on the device performance; at the top, in the middle, at the bottom of the TiO2 photoanode, and also at all the three positions. The Au NIs were fabricated by annealing a Au thin film at 550 °C. The DSSC having the Au NIs-embedded TiO2 photoanode exhibited an increase in short circuit currents (Jsc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) owing to the plasmon resonance absorption. Thus, the PCE was increased from 5.92% (reference: only TiO2 photoanode) to 6.52% when the Au NIs film was solely positioned at the bottom, in the middle or at the top of TiO2 film. When the Au NIs films were placed at all the three positions, the Jsc was increased by 16% compared to the reference cell, and consequently the PCE was further increased to 7.01%.
Highlights
Many researchers are focusing on the plasmon resonance phenomenon due to their strong absorption and scattering effect [1]
3 Conclusions In summary, the Au NIs film was placed at different positions within a TiO2 photoanode to exploit the effect of Au NIs location on the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon
Au NIs were spontaneously generated from an Au thin film after thermal treatment at 550 °C for 1 h and the average size of Au NIs increased with the initial Au film thickness
Summary
Many researchers are focusing on the plasmon resonance phenomenon due to their strong absorption and scattering effect [1]. Various lithographic techniques were employed to design plasmon nanostructures with a controlled size, shape, and arrangement for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering in the field of chemical and biosensors [7]. Among those plasmon nanostructures, nanoparticles have the most. Solid thin films are thermodynamically unstable and easy to be transformed into more stable shapes when heated below their melting temperature due to the solid state thermal dewetting phenomenon [14, 15]. To utilize the plasmon resonance phenomenon for enhancing the DSSC efficiency, researchers have incorporated the Au NIs into the TiO2 semiconducting layer in the photoanode. DSSCs having the four different photoanodes were fabricated to study the effect of plasmon resonance location on the DSSC performance
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