TiO2–Au plasmonic nanocomposite for enhanced dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance

Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles dressed with gold nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal process by using mixed precursor and controlled conditions. Diffused Reflectance Spectra (DRS) reveal that in addition to the expected TiO2 interband absorption below 360 nm gold surface plasmon feature occurs near 564 nm. It is shown that the dye sensitized solar cells made using TiO2–Au plasmonic nanocomposite yield superior performance with conversion efficiency (CE) of ∼6% (no light harvesting), current density (JSC) of ∼13.2 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage (Voc) of ∼0.74 V and fill factor (FF) 0.61; considerably better than that with only TiO2 nanoparticles (CE ∼ 5%, JSC ∼ 12.6 mA/cm2, Voc ∼ 0.70 V, FF ∼ 0.56).

► Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles loaded with Au nanoparticles are hydrothermally in situ synthesized.
► Dye sensitized cells fabricated with anatase TiO2 and anatase TiO2–Au nanocomposite are compared.
► Superior solar cell performance attributable to Au plasmonic effects is realized in the case of TiO2–Au nanocomposite.
► Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy used to bring out the origin of the effects.