Plasmon-Enhanced Sensitization of Solar Cells with Dyes

Abstract

The effect of localised plasmon resonance (LPR) of core@shell nanoparticles (Ag@TiO2 NPs) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between dyes in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was investigated. It is shown that FRET is efficiently realized in donor-acceptor (DA) pairs based on Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) and polymethine dyes (PD1 and PD2) adsorbed onto TiO2 semiconductor films. The energy transfer efficiency (EET) is higher for the Rh6G–PD2 pair (EET=0.55) compared to the PD1–PD2 pair (EET=0.21). The incorporation of Ag@TiO2 NPs contributes to an increase of FRET rate constant kET. The largest increase of kET (5.6-fold) is observed for the PD1–PD2 pair, whereas the increase of kET is equal to 1.7 for the Rh6G–PD2 pair. It is shown that the combined use of LPR of Ag@TiO2 NPs and FRET leads to a significant increase of solar cell efficiency. This efficiency enhancement is attributed not only to improved light harvesting but also to the plasmon-enhanced FRET efficiency. Additionally, an improvement of the electrophysical characteristics of the cells cannot be ruled out. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of the combined application of LPR of metal NPs and FRET to enhance the performance of solar cells.