Enhanced visible light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells through incorporation of solution-processable silver plasmons and anthracite-derived graphene quantum dots

The major setback for the enhanced performance of DSSC is the narrow absorption window and the interfacial exciton recombination. Therefore, in this work, the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells has been improved by the synergistic effect of anthracite-derived graphene quantum dots and silver plasmons. GQD and Ag coupled photoanodes were fabricated by a facile solution processable process under room temperature. The as-fabricated DSSC TiO₂/Ag/GQD (TAG) exhibited an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 10.5 % with a current density of 22.40 mAcm⁻² measured under solar irradiation of 100 mWcm⁻² with AM 1.5G. An enhancement surpassing 30.5 % was obtained for the champion cell when compared to the pristine TiO₂ based DSSC. Furthermore, this study emphasizes developing a cutting-edge approach for the high-quality use of fossil fuel-derived graphene quantum dots in energy conversion systems, thereby encouraging the green conversion of fossil fuels and broadening the potential of anthracite coal's utilization in energy conversion applications.