Freestanding light scattering hollow silver spheres prepared by a facile sacrificial templating method and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

چکیده مقاله

Hollow silver microspheres are synthesized in an easy and environmentally friendly process by a sacrificial templating method. Carbonaceous microspheres (CMSs) are used as hard templates, which have been synthesized previously by a hydrothermal carbonization process. Hollow silver spheres (HSSs) are 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 are coated with SiO ₂, and then added into the electrolyte of a dye solar cell. The enhancement of 50% is achieved in short-circuit current density (J_SC) due to the scattering and trapping of non-absorbed light inside of the sensitized TiO₂ film. In addition, 21% augmentation is observed in the photovoltaic power conversion efficiency (η). © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.