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Atomically Precise Noble Metal Clusters Harvest Visible Light to Produce Energy

Publication Type : Journal Article

Thematic Areas : Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine

Publisher : ChemistrySelect

Source : ChemistrySelect, Volume 2, Number 4, p.1454-1463 (2017)

Url : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/slct.201601730

Keywords : Nanotubes, Quantum clusters, sensitization, Solar cells, Titanium dioxide.

Campus : Kochi

School : Center for Nanosciences

Center : Amrita Center for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine Move, Nanosciences

Department : Nanosciences, Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine

Year : 2017

Abstract : Abstract Atomically precise gold and silver clusters are a new class of sensitizers which can be used as substitutes for dyes in the classical dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Here noble metal clusters protected by proteins and thiols (Au30@BSA, Au25SBB18, and Ag44MBA30) have been used for photovoltaic studies. These metal clusters were used as sensitizers for the photoanodes fabricated using TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) and the commercial P25 TiO2 nanoparticles. The TiO2, clusters and the solar cells were characterized by spectroscopy, microscopy, current-voltage (I-V) and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements. A systematic I-V study revealed a conversion efficiency of 0.35 % for the Au30@BSA sensitized solar cell made from TiO2 NTs which showed an IPCE maximum of 3 % at ∼ 400 nm.

Cite this Research Publication : V. Jeseentharani, Pugazhenthiran, N., Mathew, A., Chakraborty, I., Baksi, A., Ghosh, J., Jash, M., Anjusree, G. S., Deepak, T. G., A. Nair, S., and Pradeep, T., “Atomically Precise Noble Metal Clusters Harvest Visible Light to Produce Energy”, ChemistrySelect, vol. 2, pp. 1454-1463, 2017.

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