Enhanced light harvesting in plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells by using a topologically ordered gold light-trapping layer

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are promising low-cost, high-efficiency devices with low environmental impact. One of the important methods to improve their efficiencies involves increasing the light-harvesting efficiency. Earlier work has focused on varying the morphology of the photoanode. With such a hierarchical structured photoanode in hand, we modify herein the structure of the counter electrode to enhance the optical path length through the plasmonic and reflecttion effects. With the introduced topological gold layer, the photocurrent and efficiency are increased by 16 % and 18 %, respectively, due to the increased light collection. Besides, this effect is effective at both high and low levels of solar irradiation. Its a trap! Dye-sensitized solar cells are promising low-cost, high-efficiency devices with a low environmental impact. One route towards improved cell efficiencies is through increased light harvesting. A counter electrode is modified to enhance the optical path length by plasmonic and reflective effects. The introduced gold layer increases the efficiency by 18 %, and is effective at both high and low levels of solar irradiation. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.