Electron Conduction Channel of Silver Nanowire Modified TiO₂ Photoanode for Improvement of Interface Impedance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

In this article, novel double-layer films were designed and examined for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The commercial titanium dioxide (TiO
₂
) nanoparticles as a bonding underlayer, and the silver nanowires (AgNWs) were used and prepared by means of the polyol method. They which were doped into TiO
₂
composite materials. The microstructure of AgNWs and the effect of modified DSSCs on photovoltaic (PV) performance were examined. The experimental research indicated that the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) could enhance light-harvesting efficiency. The exceptional electrical conductivity of silver nanowires also improved the interface resistance of DSSCs. We found that LSPR could substantially boost the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) of such DSSCs. The AgNWs@TiO
₂
(an optimized content of 3 wt% in photoanode) improved the photovoltaic conversion efficiency (η) of the DSSCs from 4.01% to 5.88%, when compared with the DSSCs without AgNWs@TiO
₂
(pure TiO
₂
).