Studies on the silver incorporated titania aerogel nanostructure as a photoanode in quasi solid dye- sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have a significant impact on photovoltaic technology because of their quick, low-cost manufacture, light weight, and high power conversion efficiency (PCE). Numerous research works were undergone on different titania nanostructure used as photoanode in DSSC. High surface area titania nanoarchitecture has effective for more dye absorption to improve the cell performance. Titania aerogels have a high specific surface area and high porosity compared to other titania nanostructures. Incorporation of noble metals into titania aerogel enhanced PCE. In noble metals, silver has promising material because of its cost-effective, less ohmic resistance etc. compared to Au. In this work, we prepared silver doped titania aerogel and studied its photovoltaic performance in the quasi solid DSSC performance. Silver-incorporated titania aerogel was synthesized by the facile sol–gel route. Structural, optical, photovoltaic properties and cell stability of a prepared photoanode material were measured. PXRD revealed that the anatase phase is retained after the incorporation of silver. HRSEM images and EDS spectra confirmed the interconnecting network of titania aerogel and the presence of silver respectively. Due to the Localized Surface Plasmonic Resonance (LSPR) effect, the absorption spectra of the composite exhibited a red-shift around 650 nm. PL spectra showed the decreasing intensity in composites which is the evidence of suppressing electron-hole recombination and improving electron injection. The incorporation of silver has improved the photon absorption capability of the photoanode tends to enhance photocurrent density as well as PCE of QS-DSSC.