title: High Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Enhanced Light-Harvesting Efficiency Based on Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Coated Au-TiO2 Microspheres.
abstract: Surface plasmon resonance using noble metal nanoparticles is regarded as an attractive and viable strategy to improve the optical absorption and/or photocurrent in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, no significant improvement in device performance has been observed. The bottleneck is the stability of the noble-metal nanoparticles caused by chemical corrosion. Here, we propose a simple method to synthesize high-performance DSSCs based on polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated Au-TiO2 microspheres that utilize the merits of TiO2 microspheres and promote the coupling of surface plasmons with visible light. When 0.4 wt % Au nanoparticles were embedded into the TiO2 microspheres, the device achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 10.49%, a 7.9% increase compared with pure TiO2 microsphere-based devices. Simulation results theoretically confirmed that the improvement of the PCE is caused by the enhancement of the absorption cross-section of dye molecules and photocurrent.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-Film Solar Cells, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhenhai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li'e
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China. solarhu@sina.com.
authors.forename: Linhua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Que
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P.R. China. sydai@ipp.cas.cn.|Beijing Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-Film Solar Cells, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, P.R. China. sydai@ipp.cas.cn.
authors.forename: Songyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008863:Microspheres; D011205:Povidone / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; C009495:titanium dioxide; D006046:Gold; D014025:Titanium; D011205:Povidone
keywords: gold; nanoparticles; plasmon resonance; solar cells; titania