Freestanding light scattering hollow silver spheres prepared by a facile sacrificial templating method and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

► Chemical deposition of silver on carbonaceous microspheres, which synthesized by a hydrothermal carbonization process. ► Calcination post-treatment of silvery carbonaceous microspheres to fabricate hollow silver microspheres. ► Protection of hollow silver spheres using SiO2 shell overcoat before putting them in the electrolyte. ► Photon confinement in dye-sensitized solar cells using hollow silver spheres as freestanding light scattering centers.