One-step hydrothermal synthesis of Ag decorated TiO₂ nanoparticles for dye-sensitized solar cell application

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Over the past few years, many efforts have been made to develop efficient visible light-activated photovoltaic materials. In this study, the Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles were synthesized by using the hydrothermal method. Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles showed significantly higher visible light absorption and better photovoltaic activity than anatase TiO<SUB>2</SUB>. TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles were decorated with different concentrations of Ag to improve their photovoltaic properties. All the as-prepared TiO<SUB>2</SUB> and Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles showed a pure anatase crystalline structure. In addition, the Ag-doped nanoparticles showed broader absorption edges (which shifted to higher wavelengths) than the undoped nanoparticles. The solar conversion efficiency (<I>η</I>) of 0.1M Ag-decorated (Ag<SUB>0.1</SUB>-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>) nanoparticle-based dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was 6.44%, which is ∼22% higher than that of the TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticle-based DSSC (<I>η</I> of 5.05%).</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> A hydrothermal method has been used to synthesize Ag-doped TiO<SUB>2</SUB> (Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>) nanoparticles. </LI> <LI> Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles showed high visible light absorption in the visible spectral region. </LI> <LI> Ag-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles showed high photocurrent density (<I>J</I> <SUB> <I>sc</I> </SUB>) and solar conversion efficiency (<I>η</I>). </LI> <LI> Ag doping increased the solar conversion efficiency by 22% than anatase TiO<SUB>2</SUB>. </LI> </UL> </P>