Electrodeposited copper nanoparticles: plasmon enhanced performance of TiO2 for dye sensitized solar cell

Abstract

The Copper being cheap and more abundant in nature is being utilized on a large scale as an energy harvester. The present work is carried out on studies of the plasmonic effect of copper nanoparticles in dyesensitized solar cells. The copper nanoparticles were electrochemically deposited from an aqueous solution of copper sulphate on TiO2 film coated on flourine doped tin oxide (FTO). The film was kept in an aqueous “Rose Bengal” dye before and after deposition of copper nanoparticles. The incorporation of copper nanoparticles enhanced the overall power conversion efficiency of the dye sensitized solar cell. This enhancement is manifested chiefly due to increased dye loading and strongly absorbed light due to localized surface plasmon resonance of incorporated Cu nanoparticles in dye sensitized solar cell. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.