Plasmonic silver nanoparticles anchored ethylenediamine-titania nanobelt composite photoanode for efficient electron transport in dye-sensitized solar cell.

• Ethylenediamine functionalized NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag plasmonic NCs were prepared by simple solution protocol. • NH 2 functionalization improved interfacial contact between TiO 2 NBs and Ag NPs crystallinity of NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag NC photoanodes. • DSSC NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag-2 NC photoanode delivered a best PCE of 7.56 %. • Ag in amine functionalized TiO 2 NBs accelerates electron transfer and reduces electron recombination. • Amine that plays as bridge for faster electron transport between Ag-TiO 2 /FTO interface. An efficient photoanode is a decisive requirement for attaining impressive performance in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Consequently, in the present study, TiO 2 nanobelts (TiO 2 NBs) are synthesized by solvothermal route and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are anchored on TiO 2 NBs surface through ethylenediamine functionalization (NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag). Ethylenediamine plays dual roles of reducing agent and linker molecule between TiO 2 and Ag NPs by means of metal-ligand bonding with Ag NPs. The prepared plasmonic NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag nanocomposites (NCs) are characterized by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, HR-TEM and XPS. The NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag NCs have strong light absorption and high dye loading. The DSSC integrated with 2wt% Ag NPs anchored NH 2 -TiO 2 NB/Ag-2 NC photoanode has exhibited improved photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.56 %, which was ∼97 % greater over the PCE of DSSC constructed using unmodified TiO 2 NBs photoanode (3.84 %). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]