Gold nanorods absorption enhancement in a TiO2 paste treated with tylose for co-sensitized DSSCs

Gold nanorods (GNRs) were investigated to enhance light absorptionin co-sentitized dye solar cells (c-DSSC), thanks to their plasmonic characteristics. Pastes were obtained by directly mixing GNRs with titania. The resulting thin films differ for sintering conditions and GNRs concentration. The reported study is based on the absorbance spectra of the different samples, together with SEM and TEM to corroborate the results of the spectroscopic analysis on the transformation of GNRs morphology consequent to the different conditions utilized for TiO2 sintering. We tested these cells with organic dyes that could substitute the more expensive and toxic Ru complexes.