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Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Received: 14 September 2016    Accepted: 22 September 2016    Published: 11 October 2016
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Abstract

We present an investigation on introducing core-shell Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) into dye-sensitized solar cells. Ag@SiO2 present the chemical stability to iodide/triiodide electrolyte, and help to localize most of dye molecules around plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), hence increasing the optical absorption consequently the overall conversion efficiency of the device. Deployment of the silver-modified assembly as a photo anode in dye-sensitized solar cells leads to solar-to-electrical energy conversion with an overall efficiency of 0.0088% for Ag-TiO2 photo anode and 0.0176% for Ag@SiO2-TiO2 photo anode. This represents a 100.7% improvement over the performance of otherwise identical solar cell lacking corrosion-protected silver nanoparticles. The improvement is manifested chiefly as an increase in photocurrent density due to enhanced light harvesting by the AgNPs. The results revealed that, the performance of DSSCs could be well improved through enhancing the light absorption by local surface plasmon (LSP) effect from Ag@SiO2 NPs by electronically and chemically protecting the metal from recombination and corrosion. The mechanism of getting the best utilization efficiency of LSP enhanced optical field is also investigated.

Published in International Journal of Materials Science and Applications (Volume 5, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16
Page(s) 214-221
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Silver Nanoparticles, DSSCs, TiO2, SILAR, Surface Plasmon, Ag@SiO2, Natural Pigment

References
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  • APA Style

    Eli Danladi, Philibus Musa Gyuk, Muhammad Sani Ahmad, Isah Baba, Sunday Habila Sarki. (2016). Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. International Journal of Materials Science and Applications, 5(5), 214-221. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16

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    ACS Style

    Eli Danladi; Philibus Musa Gyuk; Muhammad Sani Ahmad; Isah Baba; Sunday Habila Sarki. Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Int. J. Mater. Sci. Appl. 2016, 5(5), 214-221. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16

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    AMA Style

    Eli Danladi, Philibus Musa Gyuk, Muhammad Sani Ahmad, Isah Baba, Sunday Habila Sarki. Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Int J Mater Sci Appl. 2016;5(5):214-221. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16,
      author = {Eli Danladi and Philibus Musa Gyuk and Muhammad Sani Ahmad and Isah Baba and Sunday Habila Sarki},
      title = {Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells},
      journal = {International Journal of Materials Science and Applications},
      volume = {5},
      number = {5},
      pages = {214-221},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijmsa.20160505.16},
      abstract = {We present an investigation on introducing core-shell Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) into dye-sensitized solar cells. Ag@SiO2 present the chemical stability to iodide/triiodide electrolyte, and help to localize most of dye molecules around plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), hence increasing the optical absorption consequently the overall conversion efficiency of the device. Deployment of the silver-modified assembly as a photo anode in dye-sensitized solar cells leads to solar-to-electrical energy conversion with an overall efficiency of 0.0088% for Ag-TiO2 photo anode and 0.0176% for Ag@SiO2-TiO2 photo anode. This represents a 100.7% improvement over the performance of otherwise identical solar cell lacking corrosion-protected silver nanoparticles. The improvement is manifested chiefly as an increase in photocurrent density due to enhanced light harvesting by the AgNPs. The results revealed that, the performance of DSSCs could be well improved through enhancing the light absorption by local surface plasmon (LSP) effect from Ag@SiO2 NPs by electronically and chemically protecting the metal from recombination and corrosion. The mechanism of getting the best utilization efficiency of LSP enhanced optical field is also investigated.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
    AU  - Eli Danladi
    AU  - Philibus Musa Gyuk
    AU  - Muhammad Sani Ahmad
    AU  - Isah Baba
    AU  - Sunday Habila Sarki
    Y1  - 2016/10/11
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16
    T2  - International Journal of Materials Science and Applications
    JF  - International Journal of Materials Science and Applications
    JO  - International Journal of Materials Science and Applications
    SP  - 214
    EP  - 221
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2327-2643
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmsa.20160505.16
    AB  - We present an investigation on introducing core-shell Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) into dye-sensitized solar cells. Ag@SiO2 present the chemical stability to iodide/triiodide electrolyte, and help to localize most of dye molecules around plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), hence increasing the optical absorption consequently the overall conversion efficiency of the device. Deployment of the silver-modified assembly as a photo anode in dye-sensitized solar cells leads to solar-to-electrical energy conversion with an overall efficiency of 0.0088% for Ag-TiO2 photo anode and 0.0176% for Ag@SiO2-TiO2 photo anode. This represents a 100.7% improvement over the performance of otherwise identical solar cell lacking corrosion-protected silver nanoparticles. The improvement is manifested chiefly as an increase in photocurrent density due to enhanced light harvesting by the AgNPs. The results revealed that, the performance of DSSCs could be well improved through enhancing the light absorption by local surface plasmon (LSP) effect from Ag@SiO2 NPs by electronically and chemically protecting the metal from recombination and corrosion. The mechanism of getting the best utilization efficiency of LSP enhanced optical field is also investigated.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Physics, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Physics, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Physics, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Physics, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna

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