Plasmon Effect of Ag Nanoparticles on TiO<sub>2</sub>/rGO Nanostructures for Enhanced Energy Harvesting and Environmental Remediation
Seenidurai Athithya,
Valparai Surangani Manikandan,
Santhana Krishnan Harish,
Kuppusamy Silambarasan,
Shanmugam Gopalakrishnan,
Hiroya Ikeda,
Mani Navaneethan,
Jayaram Archana
Affiliations
Seenidurai Athithya
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Valparai Surangani Manikandan
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Santhana Krishnan Harish
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Kuppusamy Silambarasan
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Shanmugam Gopalakrishnan
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Hiroya Ikeda
Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-Ku, Hamamatsu 432-8011, Japan
Mani Navaneethan
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
Jayaram Archana
Functional Materials and Energy Devices Laboratory, Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai 603 203, India
We report Ag nanoparticles infused with mesosphere TiO2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheet (TiO2/rGO/Ag) hybrid nanostructures have been successfully fabricated using a series of solution process synthesis routes and an in-situ growth method. The prepared hybrid nanostructure is utilized for the fabrication of photovoltaic cells and the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants. The photovoltaic characteristics of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) device with plasmonic hybrid nanostructure (TiO2/rGO/Ag) photoanode achieved a highest short-circuit current density (JSC) of 16.05 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.74 V and a fill factor (FF) of 62.5%. The fabricated plasmonic DSSC device exhibited a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.27%, which is almost 1.7 times higher than the TiO2-based DSSC (4.10%). For the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, the prepared TiO2/rGO/Ag photocatalyst exhibited superior photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye molecules at around 93% and the mineralization of total organic compounds (TOC) by 80% in aqueous solution after 160 min under continuous irradiation with natural sunlight. Moreover, the enhanced performance of the DSSC device and the MB dye degradation exhibited by the hybrid nanostructures are more associated with their high surface area. Therefore, the proposed plasmonic hybrid nanostructure system is a further development for photovoltaics and environmental remediation applications.
