Optimization of Plasmonic DSSC with Controling of Au/TiO2 Mass Ratio and Configration of Photoanode

In this work, the role and utilization of gold metal nanoparticles on enhancing the performance of dye sensitized solar cells are studied. Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated with the use of red tea as natural dye sensitizer. The gold nanoparticles were synthesized and functionalized with carboxyl group and then were used in the photoanode of the fabricated DSSCs. Operation of these cells in the presence of the nanoparticles was studied. The way of applying gold nanoparticles in photoanode is very important and optimized configuration of photoanode as the plasmonic paste was designed and their concentration (weight ratio of Au /TiO2), in photoanode was optimized. Due to the role of gold nanoparticles to improve the absorption of sunlight by the dye, the mass ratio of gold nanoparticles is an important factor in cell optimization. So that the concentration of gold nanoparticles doesn't prevent the adsorption of dye molecules on the surface of TiO2 and for 2 nm gold nanoparticles used in this study, this mass percentage was optimized as 0.143 wt% Au-TiO2.