Abstract

An efficient photoanode is a decisive requirement for attaining impressive performance in dye -sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Consequently, in the present study, TiO2 nanobelts (TiO2 NBs) are synthesized by solvothermal route and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are anchored on TiO2 NBs surface through ethylenediamine functionalization (NH2-TiO2 NB/Ag). Ethylenediamine plays dual roles of reducing agent and linker molecule between TiO2 and Ag NPs by means of metal-ligand bonding with Ag NPs. The prepared plasmonic NH2-TiO2 NB/Ag nanocomposites (NCs) are characterized by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, HR-TEM and XPS. The NH2-TiO2 NB/Ag NCs have strong light absorption and high dye loading. The DSSC integrated with 2wt % Ag NPs anchored NH2-TiO2 NB/Ag-2 NC photoanode has exhibited improved photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.56 %, which was similar to 97 % greater over the PCE of DSSC constructed using unmodified TiO2 NBs photoanode (3.84 %).