Enhancing the Efficiency of Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) by Nanostructured Ag‐doped ZnO Electrodes.

Silver (Ag) ‐ doped ZnO nanoparticles (0 % to 20 %) were synthesized by the microwave method. The structural, optical, and electrochemical properties were observed through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X‐ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X‐ray (EDX), UV‐Visible spectroscopy, Photoluminescence, and Cyclic‐Voltammetry (C−V) techniques. The platinum metal counter electrode was replaced by using dip coating, spin coating, and electrochemical method electrodes. The best current‐voltage performance was exhibited by the 5 % Ag‐doped ZnO DSSCs constructed by the electrochemical method counter electrode with a conversion efficiency (η) of 6.19 %, open‐circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.58 V, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 19.12 mA/cm2 and fill factor of 55.08 %. This performance is superior to the counter electrodes made from the spin coating (1.45 %) and dip coating (0.91 %). The higher catalytic behavior of the electrochemical method counter electrode and appearing plasmons peaks in all Ag‐doped ZnO nanoparticles influence the enhancement of current density and overall conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]