Synthesis of Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite via plasma liquid interactions: Improved performance as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cell

Zohreh Dehghani Mahmoudabadi; Esmaeil Eslami; Mehrnoush Narimisa

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.06.048

Synthesis of Ag/TiO₂ nanocomposite via plasma liquid interactions: Improved performance as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cell

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Nov 1:529:538-546. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.06.048. Epub 2018 Jun 20.

Authors

Zohreh Dehghani Mahmoudabadi¹, Esmaeil Eslami², Mehrnoush Narimisa³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846- 13114, Iran.
² Department of Physics, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846- 13114, Iran. Electronic address: eeslami@iust.ac.ir.
³ Research Unit Plasma Technology (RUPT), Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Belgium.

PMID: 29957578
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.06.048

Abstract

Ag/TiO₂ nanocomposite was prepared by the atmospheric direct current plasma in aqueous solution to improve its performance in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as the photoanode. The fabricated DSSC shows high power conversion efficiency over 6.5% and displays better long-term stability than that of referenced pure TiO₂. The comparison of photoluminescence spectra of Ag/TiO₂ and pure TiO₂ showed that only the Ag containing samples had notable photocurrent under visible light, which was attributed to the highly dispersed Ag, according to the EDS and XRD measurements. The short-circuit current density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) reached 13.43 mA cm^-2 and 0.72 V in Ag/TiO₂, and 9.44 mA cm^-2 and 0.68 V in pure TiO₂, respectively. The performance improvement in Ag/TiO₂ DSSC may occur due to the declined band-gap energy, retarded charge recombination and greater surface coverage of the sensitizing dye over Ag/TiO₂ nanocomposite.

Keywords: Ag/TiO(2) nanocomposite; Atmospheric microplasma electrochemistry; DSSCs; Material characterizations.