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Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles

A substantial and stable increase of the current density J(sc) of ruthenium (Ru) dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) of up to 16.18% and of the power efficiency of up to 25.5% is demonstrated in this article via plasmonic enhancement. The key aspect of this work is the use of a tailored bimodal size di...

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Autores principales: Andrei, Codrin, Lestini, Elena, Crosbie, Stephen, de Frein, Caoimhe, O'Reilly, Thomas, Zerulla, Dominic
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4212914/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25354362
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109836
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author Andrei, Codrin
Lestini, Elena
Crosbie, Stephen
de Frein, Caoimhe
O'Reilly, Thomas
Zerulla, Dominic
author_facet Andrei, Codrin
Lestini, Elena
Crosbie, Stephen
de Frein, Caoimhe
O'Reilly, Thomas
Zerulla, Dominic
author_sort Andrei, Codrin
collection PubMed
description A substantial and stable increase of the current density J(sc) of ruthenium (Ru) dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) of up to 16.18% and of the power efficiency of up to 25.5% is demonstrated in this article via plasmonic enhancement. The key aspect of this work is the use of a tailored bimodal size distribution of functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that have been chemically immobilized onto the mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) layer via short, stable dithiodibutyric acid linkers. The size distribution of the AuNPs is a result of theoretical calculations that aimed at the perfection of the absorption characteristics of the complete solar cell system over a wide range of wavelengths. The functionalization of the AuNPs serves to bind them at a close but defined distance to TiO(2)-particles and additionally to chemically protect them against potential corrosion by the electrolyte. Simulations of near field (enhanced absorption) and far field (scattering) contributions have been used to tailor a complex AuNPs bimodal size distribution that had subsequently demonstrated experimentally a close to optimum improvement of the absorbance over a wide wavelength range (500–675 nm) and therefore an impressive DSC efficiency enhancement. Finally, the modified DSCs are exhibiting pronounced longevity and stable performance as confirmed via long time measurements. In summary, the presented systems show increased performance compared to non plasmonic enhanced cells with otherwise identical composition, and are demonstrating a previously unpublished longevity for iodide electrolyte/AuNPs combinations.
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spelling pubmed-42129142014-11-05 Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles Andrei, Codrin Lestini, Elena Crosbie, Stephen de Frein, Caoimhe O'Reilly, Thomas Zerulla, Dominic PLoS One Research Article A substantial and stable increase of the current density J(sc) of ruthenium (Ru) dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) of up to 16.18% and of the power efficiency of up to 25.5% is demonstrated in this article via plasmonic enhancement. The key aspect of this work is the use of a tailored bimodal size distribution of functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that have been chemically immobilized onto the mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) layer via short, stable dithiodibutyric acid linkers. The size distribution of the AuNPs is a result of theoretical calculations that aimed at the perfection of the absorption characteristics of the complete solar cell system over a wide range of wavelengths. The functionalization of the AuNPs serves to bind them at a close but defined distance to TiO(2)-particles and additionally to chemically protect them against potential corrosion by the electrolyte. Simulations of near field (enhanced absorption) and far field (scattering) contributions have been used to tailor a complex AuNPs bimodal size distribution that had subsequently demonstrated experimentally a close to optimum improvement of the absorbance over a wide wavelength range (500–675 nm) and therefore an impressive DSC efficiency enhancement. Finally, the modified DSCs are exhibiting pronounced longevity and stable performance as confirmed via long time measurements. In summary, the presented systems show increased performance compared to non plasmonic enhanced cells with otherwise identical composition, and are demonstrating a previously unpublished longevity for iodide electrolyte/AuNPs combinations. Public Library of Science 2014-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC4212914/ /pubmed/25354362 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109836 Text en © 2014 Andrei et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Andrei, Codrin
Lestini, Elena
Crosbie, Stephen
de Frein, Caoimhe
O'Reilly, Thomas
Zerulla, Dominic
Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title_full Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title_fullStr Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title_full_unstemmed Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title_short Plasmonic Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells via a Tailored Size-Distribution of Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles
title_sort plasmonic enhancement of dye sensitized solar cells via a tailored size-distribution of chemically functionalized gold nanoparticles
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4212914/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25354362
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0109836
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