Silver nanoparticles-incorporated Nb₂O₅ surface passivation layer for efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar...

Guiding and capturing photons at the nanoscale by means of metal nanoparticles and interfacial engineering for preventing back-electron transfer are well documented techniques for performance enhancement in excitonic solar cells. Drifting from the conventional route, we propose a simple one-step process to integrate both metal nanoparticles and surface passivation layer in the porous photoanode matrix of a dye-sensitized solar cell. Silver nanoparticles and Nb₂O₅ surface passivation layer are simultaneously deposited on the surface of a highly porous nanocrystalline TiO₂ photoanode, facilitating an absorption enhancement in the 465 nm and 570 nm wavelength region and a reduction in back-electron transfer in the fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells together. The TiO₂ photoanodes were prepared by spray pyrolysis deposition method from a colloidal solution of TiO₂ nanoparticles. An impressive 43% enhancement in device performance was accomplished in photoanodes having an Ag-incorporated Nb₂O₅ passivation layer as against a cell without Ag nanoparticles. By introducing this idea, we were able to record two benefits - the metal nanoparticles function as the absorption enhancement agent, and the Nb₂O₅ layer as surface passivation for TiO₂ nanoparticles and as an energy barrier layer for preventing back-electron transfer - in a single step.