Surface plasmon resonance effect of Cu nanoparticles in a dye sensitized solar cell

Pure and copper doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) photo anodes with different doping amounts of copper (Cu) 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 mole% are synthesized using modified sol-gel route. Addition of Cu in TiO2 matrix can enhance absorption towards visible spectrum and can reduce the charge carrier recombination due to Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR). The samples are characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-VIS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Electro Chemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The crystallite size is measured by XRD and surface morphology of the samples is analyzed using SEM. UV-vis measurement shows that the influence of Cu in TiO2 lattice altered its optical properties and extended absorption in the visible region. The resistances between different junctions of the cell are measured by EIS. The J-V measurement of the cell prepared using pure and Cu-doped TiO2 NPs is carried out by solar simulator. The optimized Cu doped DSSC with 0.3 mole% Cu in TiO2 shows the best power conversion efficiency of 8.65% which is approximately 26% greater than the efficiency of undoped DSSC (6.41%). (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.