The incorporation of gold nanoparticle on to curcumin sensitized titanium dioxide photo-anode: Will it be any photocurrent enhancement and why?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to improve the photocurrent of curcumin (natural dyes) sensitized TiO2 photoanode, by introducing gold nanoparticles in the photoanode matrix. The plasmonic behavior, as well as the excellent conductivity of the gold nanoparticles are expected to play a role in the photo current enhancement. The TiO2 photoanode is made by doctor blading TiO2 paste on FTO substrate glass. TiO2/Au photoanode is prepared by depositing Au nanoparticles on the surface of TiO2 photoanode by electrophoresis method. Both photoanodes absorbed curcumin dye by electrophoresis of curcumin dye solution, resulting in TiO2/Curcumin and TiO2/Au/Curcumin photoanodes. The prepared photoanodes were characterized by mean of spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis Absorption) and electrochemical method (Multipulse Amperometry). The preliminary results indicated that that the TiO2/Au/Curcumin photoanode has a better absorption under visible light than TiO2/Curcumin. The spectra of TiO2/Au/Curcumin have a higher absorption and red shift (569 nm) compared to TiO2/curcumin (538 nm). It was also successfully observed that the resulted photocurrent under visible light, in the presence of gold nanoparticle, was increased. It was found that the photocurrent density produced from TiO2/Au/Curcumin photoanode was higher (45.9 µA/cm2 to 4.9 µA/cm2 after 300 s) than that of TiO2/Curcumin (81.4 µA/cm2 to 7.1 µA/cm2 after 300 s). It seems that the plasmonic resonance due to the presence of gold nanoparticles on the photoanode plays a key role in the photocurrent enhancement, thus this report’s approach may be served as one of the way to overcome the weakness of the natural dyes in a DSSC system.The purpose of this study is to improve the photocurrent of curcumin (natural dyes) sensitized TiO2 photoanode, by introducing gold nanoparticles in the photoanode matrix. The plasmonic behavior, as well as the excellent conductivity of the gold nanoparticles are expected to play a role in the photo current enhancement. The TiO2 photoanode is made by doctor blading TiO2 paste on FTO substrate glass. TiO2/Au photoanode is prepared by depositing Au nanoparticles on the surface of TiO2 photoanode by electrophoresis method. Both photoanodes absorbed curcumin dye by electrophoresis of curcumin dye solution, resulting in TiO2/Curcumin and TiO2/Au/Curcumin photoanodes. The prepared photoanodes were characterized by mean of spectroscopic methods (UV-Vis Absorption) and electrochemical method (Multipulse Amperometry). The preliminary results indicated that that the TiO2/Au/Curcumin photoanode has a better absorption under visible light than TiO2/Curcumin. The spectra of TiO2/Au/Curcumin have a higher absorption an...