Elucidation of impressive photovoltaic performances upon the treatment of various aminosilanes over plasmonic photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells

The plasmonic photoelectrodes have pioneered the way for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), however, metal nanoparticle degradation in iodine-based electrolytes limits overall device performance. To overcome the problem, the present work focuses on the synthesis of amine-functionalized silanes protected plasmonic nanocomposites since it serves dual functions such as effective binding of silver and preventing the corrosion of silver from the electrolyte. Various aminosilane bounded Ag@TiO2 (AS/Ag@TiO2) were synthesized and used as photoanodes in DSSC and their photovoltaic performance was tested under 100 mWcm(-2) exposure with AM 1.5 G. The J(SC), V-OC, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of [3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyl]trimethoxysilane (EDAS) bounded Ag@TiO2 are higher than the other aminosilane protected Ag@TiO2. The champion cell shows 38% higher efficiency than the pristine TiO2. Since EDAS contains two amine groups, it acts as a support for holding Ag and also helps to preserve Ag from the corrosive electrolyte environment. The maximum obtained PCE of EDAS bounded Ag@TiO2 is 7.23% with J(SC), V-OC and FF of 15.01 mAcm(-2), 0.782 V and 61.3% respectively. The stability of the ADS photoanode-based DSSC was tested and it was found to be stable for 3 days. Thus, this approach could be a versatile strategy for the development of higher efficiency plasmonic DSSC.