Facile one-pot synthesis of multi-shaped silver nanoparticles with tunable ultra-broadband absorption for efficient light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

Joshi, Dhavalkumar N.; Ilaiyaraja, P.; Sudakar, C.; Ramaswamy, Arun Prasath

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.05.018

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Figure 5a shows the combined absorption plots of AgNPs in water for diameters ranging from 20 nm -100 nm derived from the FDTD simulations 73 . This matches experimental data available in the literature [80][81][82] , hence validating the simulation set-up used in this study. To verify the size and optical properties of the synthesized AgNPs, they were observed using confocal microscopy and their measured absorption curves were matched against the simulated curves.…”

Section: Determination Of Optimum Dimensions Of Agnps Through Fdtd Sisupporting

confidence: 87%

Plasmonic enhancement of betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cells via tailored bimodal size distribution of silver nanoparticles

Pesala

2020

Sci Rep

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natural pigment-based photosensitizers are an attractive pathway for realizing low cost and environmentally friendly solar cells. Here, broadband light-harvesting is achieved using two natural pigments, betanin and lawsone, absorbing in the green and blue region of the solar spectrum respectively. the use of bimodal size distribution of Agnps tailored for each of the pigments to further increase their efficiency is the key feature of this work. This study demonstrates a significant enhancement in current-density, voltage, and efficiency by 20.1%, 5.5%, and 28.6% respectively, in a betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cell, via plasmonic enhancement using silver nanoparticles (Agnps). the optimum sizes of the nanoparticles have been calculated by studying their optical response and electric field profiles using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations, aimed at matching their resonant wavelengths with the absorption bands of the dyes. Simulations show that AgNPs of diameters 20 nm and 60 nm are optimum for enhanced absorption by lawsone and betanin respectively. The FDTD simulations of the plasmonic photoelectrodes demonstrated 30% and 15% enhancement in the power absorption by betanin and lawsone at the LSPR peaks of the 60 nm and 20 nm AgNPs respectively. An optimum overall concentration of 2% (v/v) and a ratio of 4:1 (20 nm:60 nm) of the bimodal distribution of the AgNPs, was determined for incorporation in the photoanodes. An average efficiency of 1.02 ± 0.006% was achieved by the betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cell with the bimodal distribution of AgNPs, compared to 0.793 ± 0.006% achieved by the non-plasmonic solar cell of otherwise identical configuration. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed that the incorporation of the bimodal distribution of Agnps in the solar cells also enabled enhanced electron lifetime and reduced recombination compared to the non-plasmonic counterpart, thereby improving the charge transfer. the plasmonic enhancement methodology presented here can be applied to further improve the efficiency of other natural dye-sensitized solar cells. Since the seminal work in 1991 by O'Regan and Gratzel on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) 1 , immense interest has been directed towards their development in the last two decades. Owing to their inexpensive and facile processing requirements, DSSCs are becoming increasingly popular as an emerging photovoltaic technology 2-4. State-of-the-art DSSCs, which have achieved maximum efficiencies of 11.9% 5 , widely use metal-based dyes as the photosensitizer. Although these dyes are highly efficient sensitizers that effectively capture the entire visible spectrum, they employ rare metals such as ruthenium or osmium which require elaborate synthetic procedures. Moreover, they are expensive and toxic to the environment, making their disposal a problem. Therefore, natural pigments derived from plant sources, which are environment-friendly and inexpensive 6,7 , have come to the forefront as alternative photosensitizers. Several groups 8,...

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Section: Determination Of Optimum Dimensions Of Agnps Through Fdtd Sisupporting

confidence: 87%

Plasmonic enhancement of betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cells via tailored bimodal size distribution of silver nanoparticles

Pesala

2020

Sci Rep

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“…It should be noted that the energy conversion efficiency of the CdS-sensitized solar devices fabricated with the present strategy is comparable and even higher than some of the efficiency values reported in the literature by using different strategies such as doping with different materials [7][8][9][10][11]. Therefore, it can be concluded that efficiency of CdS sensitized solar cells can be significantly enhance by incorporation of Ag NPs in the TiO2 photoande with a simple techniques.…”

Section: Current -Voltage Characteristicssupporting

confidence: 61%

“…Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by using a facile one-pot chemical reduction method as described in the literature [9]. That is briefly by adding 0.25 g of AgNO3 (Sigma-Aldrich) to a 20 ml of Di-methyl formaldehyde (>99%, BDH),(DMF), containing 0.85g of Polyvinyl pyrrolidine (PVP-40,000 M.W, BDH), PVP, at room temperature and heating the reaction mixture at 90 °C for 6 h. Ag colloidal dispersions with red, blue and green colors were collected at different time intervals.…”

Section: Preparation Of Ag Nanoparticlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of surface plasmon resonance on the photovoltaic properties of CdS quantum dot sensitized solar cells

et al. 2021

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Use of surface plasmon resonance effect of the Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) towards the photophysical properties of CdS quantum dot sensitized TiO2 based solar cells (QDSSCs) was investigated under the illumination of 100 mW cm -2 (AM 1.5). Depositions of CdS on TiO2 electrodes were carried out by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method with optimized ten cycles. Current voltage characteristics of QDSSCs fabricated with optimum amount of Ag NPs (0.2 % w/v) in TiO2 showed ~ 26% increment in the power conversion efficiency from 1.09 to 1.37%. Surface morphological studies of photoanodes were carried out with scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transition electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray measurements (EDX). The existence of spherical shape Ag nanoparticles in TiO2 with an average particle size of 35 nm was confirmed by EDX analysis. The estimated average size of the TiO2 and CdS particles appears to be around 40 nm and 4.2 nm respectively.

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“…Additionally, by increasing the radius size of the nanoparticle from 5 to 20 nm, the SPR signal shows a redshift in all comparative cases. This is a feature of resonant plasmonic nanoparticles [ 48 , 49 ]. This behavior is due to a strong interaction between the nanoparticles, which is explained by the increase in the concentration of nanoparticles and the increase in the radius of the nanoparticles and corroborated by experimental works [ 50 , 51 , 52 ].…”

Section: Absorbance and Extinction Coefficients Of Moo 3 Thin Films Doped By Resonant Npsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction Coefficient Modulation of MoO3 Films Doped with Plasmonic Nanoparticles: From an Effective Medium Theory Description

Morales-Luna

2021

Nanomaterials

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This work focused on the application of the effective medium theory to describe the extinction coefficient (Qext) in molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) doped with different kinds of plasmonic nanoparticles, such as silver (Ag), gold (Au), and copper (Cu). Usually, in studies of these materials, it is normal to analyze the transmission or absorption spectra. However, the effect of this type or size of nanoparticles on the spectra is not as remarkable as the effect that is found by analyzing the Qext of MoO3. It was shown that the β-phase of MoO3 enhanced the intensity response of the Qext when compared to the α-phase of MoO3. With a nanoparticle size of 5 nm, the Ag-doped MoO3 was the configuration that presents the best response in Qext. On the other hand, Cu nanoparticles with a radius of 20 nm embedded in MoO3 was the configuration that presented intensities in Qext similar to the cases of Au and Ag nanoparticles. Therefore, implementing the effective medium theory can serve as a guide for experimental researchers for the application of these materials as an absorbing layer in photovoltaic cells.

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Facile one-pot synthesis of multi-shaped silver nanoparticles with tunable ultra-broadband absorption for efficient light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

Cited by 18 publications

References 28 publications

Plasmonic enhancement of betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cells via tailored bimodal size distribution of silver nanoparticles

Plasmonic enhancement of betanin-lawsone co-sensitized solar cells via tailored bimodal size distribution of silver nanoparticles

The effect of surface plasmon resonance on the photovoltaic properties of CdS quantum dot sensitized solar cells

Extinction Coefficient Modulation of MoO3 Films Doped with Plasmonic Nanoparticles: From an Effective Medium Theory Description

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