Au/TiO2 Hollow Spheres with Synergistic Effect of Plasmonic Enhancement and Light Scattering for Improved Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Au-decorated TiO2 hollow spheres (Au-THS) have been successfully synthesized via a facile one-pot solvothermal method. The Au-THS hybrid features unique hollow structure with a large specific surface area of 120 m(2) g(-1) and homogeneous decoration of Au nanoparticles, giving rise to enhanced light harvesting and charge generation/separation efficiency. When incorporated into the active layer of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), an improved power conversion efficiency of 7.3% is obtained, which is increased by 37.7% compared with the controlled P25 DSSC. The underlying mechanism to rationalize the efficiency enhancement can be mainly attributed to the strong synergistic effect of superior light scattering ability of the THS and the plasmonic-enhanced effect rendered by the Au nanoparticles.