Efficient light harvesting in dye sensitized solar cells using broadband surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles with varied shapes and sizes

Plasmonic silver nanoparticles of varied shapes and sizes (v-AgNPs) were synthesized via facile one-pot chemical reduction method and investigated their applicability in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The synthesized v-AgNPs exhibit broadband absorption over entire visible region owing to their unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The photon conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSCs increased ∼50% by incorporating ∼1 wt% of v-AgNPs in ∼4 μm thin reference photoanode. The enhancement is mainly due to increase in light harvesting ability of plasmonic photoanode as a result of local electromagnetic field enhancement and strong near field scattering effect of v-AgNPs. In addition, the reduction in charge transfer resistance value (R2) further confirms the high charge carrier generation in plasmonic DSSCs.