Investigations of Zr/TiO2-based nanocomposites for efficient plasmonic dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Renewable energy resources have a wide range of materials to fulfill the energy demand. All developed countries are trying to adopt renewable energy resources to overcome the energy crises. Recent research showed that dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are optimistic and cheap customers for energy purposes. Most used materials in DSSCs are environment-friendly. Zirconium/titanium dioxide-based nanocomposite photoanodes are mostly stable and efficient for DSSCs. SEM, XRD, UV-visible spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy were employed to check the morphological, structural and optical properties of Cu and Ag-doped Zr/TiO2, respectively. IV measurements investigation showed that due to the Cu and Ag contents’ effects, the power regeneration efficiency was enhanced by 8.18% by using [Formula: see text] of 0.73 V, [Formula: see text] of 8.78 mA cm[Formula: see text], FF 59.03% and IPCE of 62.43%, due to a shortage in recombinations of charge carrier. The carrier transporting mechanism (EIS) was done at a frequency range of 100 mHz to 1 MHz.