Metal–Organic Framework Derived Hierarchical Porous Anatase TiO₂ as a Photoanode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been generating a great deal of interest due to their high specific surface area, regular pore structure, and adjustable aperture. However, only a few studies explored their application in the field of photovoltaic devices. In the present work, MIL-125­(Ti), one kind of MOFs, was investigated as the precursor for TiO₂ photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells for the first time. Herein, pure anatase TiO₂ with a hierarchical structure was synthesized through the decomposition of MIL-125­(Ti), which avoids the use of templates and fussy operation of sol–gel methods. The obtained TiO₂ has a specific surface area of 147 m² g^–1 and a mean pore size value of 10 nm. When used as a photoanode material in dye-sensitized solar cells, the device gave rise to an overall energy conversion efficiency of 7.20%, which is better than the performance of the P25 based photoanode

Plasmonic Effects of Silver Nanoparticles Embedded in the Counter Electrode on the Enhanced Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The plasmonic effects of silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) with various morphologies (sphere, rod, and prism) embedded into the platinum (Pt) counter electrodes (CEs) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were systematically investigated. It was shown that the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the incorporated devices are notably improved from 7.60%, for the reference device without Ag NPs, to 8.10, 8.68, and 8.55% with Ag nanospheres, nanorods, and nanoprism devices, respectively. Moreover, the photocurrent and fill factor enhancement is attributed to the better optical and electrical properties of the integrated devices. Among all of the NP morphologies studied, Ag nanorods offer the best improvement to the device efficiency, as they have longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (L-LSPR) and strong scattering effects correlate within the morphology