Silver nanoparticle doped TiO2 nanofiber dye sensitized solar cells

Silver nanoparticle doped TiO2 nanofibers, prepared by the electrospinning process were used as the photoanode to fabricate dye sensitized solar cells. It was found that the nanoparticle doped solar cells have a significantly increased photocurrent density resulting in a 25% improved conversion efficiency compared to undoped solar cells. The improved performance is attributed to two factors: (1) the increased light harvesting efficiency due to the plasmon enhanced optical absorption induced by Ag nanoparticles, and (2) the improved electron collection efficiency as a result of faster electron transport in the Ag doped TiO2 nanofiber photoanode. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.