Synthesis of silver quantum dots decorated TiO2 nanotubes and their incorporation in organic hybrid solar cells

Uniform silver quantum dots decorated TiO2 nanotubes (Ag-TiO2 NTs) were synthesized via a simple reduction reaction in ethanol solvent. The size distribution of composite NTs arranges from 3 to 5 nm for Ag quantum dots and about 10 nm for TiO2 NTs in diameter. The composite Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles were incorporated in organic hybrid solar cells through doping into the active layer. Both the optical and electrical properties of the solar cells were improved. The photocurrent and fill factor of the devices were obviously increased after the Ag-TiO2 NTs were introduced, accompanied with a greatly reduced series resistance as well as enlarged shunt resistance. Suppressed recombination due to efficient charge transfer from plasmonic Ag quantum dots to the attached TiO2 NTs made contribution to the charge collection and transportation so that the fill factor was increased. Meanwhile, the enhanced light absorption resulted from effective incident light scattering by the Ag-TiO2 NTs composite played a role in increasing photocurrent. As a result, solar cells with Ag-TiO2 NTs generated an enhanced conversion efficiency up to 20 and 50 % compared to that adopting TiO2 NTs and that without doping, respectively.