| Abstract | Improving the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) requires enhancing the photogeneration of charge carriers as well as facilitating their transport to electrodes before charge recombination or quenching can occur. Here we describe a simple, fast and large-area scalable procedure for the preparation of a nanocomposite made of functional gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to improve the performance of DSSCs. We fabricated AuNP/MWCNT inlaid mesoporous TiO₂ films as photoanodes in DSSCs, to improve crucial factors including light absorption, charge-carrier generation, collection and transport. By using a AuNP/MWCNT nanocomposite directly inlaid in TiO₂ as the working electrode, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.61% and short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) of 12.26 mA cm−2 were obtained, representing an enhancement of ~31% in PCE and ~19% in Jsc compared to a control cell based on TiO₂ alone. In addition, DSSCs based on the TiO₂/AuNP/MWCNT photoanode remained remarkably stable compared with the control device, retaining 92% of the initial PCE value after ten days of continuous illumination. |
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