Ag nanoparticle-decorated SiO2@TiO2 hierarchical microspheres improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells

SiO 2 @TiO 2 -Ag (STA) microspheres decorated with Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were prepared and assembled into the photoanode. The photoanode composed of STA microspheres and TiO 2 nanoparticles (P25) was prepared by doctor blade method. UV–vis measurement indicates that the introduction of a few STA microspheres observably enhances the light scattering and capturing ability of the photoanode. The photoelectric conversion efficiency of the DSSCs with 2wt% STA photoanode increased to 7.4% from 4.3% comparing with pure P25 TiO 2 nanoparticles. The configuration DSSCs have the maximum short circuit current density ( J sc ) of 16.0 mA cm −2 and open-circuit voltage ( V oc ) of 0.780 V, which are significantly higher than the pure TiO 2 DSSCs. The significant improvement of the DSSCs performance can be due to the synergistic effect of the superior light scattering of STA and the localized surface plasma resonance (LSPR) effect of Ag NPs modified on the microspheres surface.