Fabrication of Silver Microspheres as Metallic Scattering Centers in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells: Light Harvesting

Silver microspheres were synthesized in an easy and environmentally friendly process by a sacrificial templating method. Carbonaceous microspheres were used as hard templates, which had been synthesized previously by a hydrothermal carbonization process. Silver spheres were synthesized by thermal removal of the core carbon component. The thickness of shell could be controlled by the concentration of precursors. Depending on the thickness, uniform or discontinuous shells are formed. The spheres were coated with SiO2, and then added into the electrolyte of a dye solar cell. The enhancement of 50% was achieved in short-circuit current density (JSC) due to the scattering and trapping of non-absorbed light inside of the sensitized TiO2 film. In addition, 21% augmentation was observed in the photovoltaic power conversion efficiency (η).