Plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells incorporated with Au-TiO2 nanostructures with tailored configurations

We developed plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with tailor-designed Au-TiO2 nanostructures integrated into the photoanode. Mutually antagonistic Au-TiO2 core-shell structures supported on SiO2 spheres (SiO2@TiO2@AuNP and SiO2@AuNP@TiO2) were prepared and incorporated as additives into the photoanodes of the DSSCs. The DSSCs employing the nanocrystalline-TiO2 (nc-TiO2)/SiO2@TiO2@AuNP and nc-TiO2/SiO2@AuNP@TiO2 as photoanodes showed remarkably enhanced power conversion efficiencies up to about 14% and 10%, respectively, with respect to a reference cell containing an nc-TiO2/SiO2@TiO2 photoanode. This can be mainly attributed to the enhanced dye absorption by the intensified near-field effect of AuNPs and plasmon-enhanced photocurrent generation.