Sol-Gel Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Doped Silica/Titanosilicate Films for Plasmonic Solar Cell Applications

Metal nanoparticles with plasmonic effect are being given considerable attention for the past few decades due to their potential applications in solar cell. Silver nanoparticles doped silica/titanosilicate films were synthesized by means of hydrolytic and non hydrolytic sol-gel method. The sol-gel derived samples were effectively coated on silica substrate by dip coating method and annealed at 400 degrees C. The absorption spectrum of the nanoparticle doped films were analyzed and reveals that there is a broad peak around 360-380 nm is due to plasmonic effect of the silver nanoparticles. The samples were characterized structurally by means of XRD and TEM. The XRD data confirmed the crystalline nature of Ag nanoparticles and size is calculated around 14-15 nm. The TEM observations was also confirmed the crystalline planes of silver nanoparticles and is found to be around 15nm.