Photosensitive Gold Nanoparticles Decorated Silicon Nanowires for Solar Energy Conversion

Maitra, Sandipan (2022) Photosensitive Gold Nanoparticles Decorated Silicon Nanowires for Solar Energy Conversion. Project Report. IITHyderabad, IIT Hyderabad.

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Abstract

This work is directed towards the fabrication of solar cell devices based on Silicon nanowires and testing their solar cell parameters. Bare Si nanowires with Nickel Oxide counter electrode yielded good performance but there was a scope for upgradation. Surface plasmon active gold nanoparticles were an obvious choice as they were synthesized using a simple method by oleylamine trapping and less costly than Pt nanoparticles. The photoanode, Si nanowires, were synthesized by simple metal assisted chemical etching with Ag being the etching catalyst. The various advantage that the SiNW and AuNP provides in terms of photoanode is discussed thoroughly. For counter electrode design instead of choosing platinum-based CE which are costly, Cobalt Sulfide was incorporated into FTO glasses that worked as a cathode. Effective cost reduction happened with Cobalt Sulfide electrode while not so much declining the performance in comparison to Pt electrode. The counter electrode material was characterized using PXRD technique. The absorbance of the counter electrode material was also studied which proved that it is UV active only. The SPR of gold nanoparticles was studied and its impact on the absorption of SiNW was also discussed. The light scattering by gold nanoparticles improved the absorption near their SPR band improves optical concentration. The impedance study provided clearly signifies the effect of light generated photocarriers and charge transport as the resistance dropped under illumination. The electrolyte used over here is ferrocene/ferrocenium in propylene carbonate solution. The solar cell parameters study for the cell showed a value of 2.5% PCE, which might be attributed to combined effects of using Au nanoparticles and Cobalt Sulfide counter electrode.

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