In this study, Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a modified Stöber method for\npreparing the TiO2 mesoporous layer of carbon counter electrode-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs)\nwithout a hole transporting layer. Compared with normal PSCs (without Ag@SiO2 incorporated in\nthe TiO2 mesoporous layer), PSCs with an optimal content of Ag@SiO2 (0.3 wt. % Ag@SiO2-TiO2)\nshow a 19.46% increase in their power conversion efficiency, from 12.23% to 14.61%, which is mainly\nattributed to the 13.89% enhancement of the short-circuit current density, from 20.23 mA/cm2 to\n23.04 mA/cm2. These enhancements mainly contributed to the localized surface Plasmon resonance\neffect and the strong scattering effect of Ag@SiO2 nanoparticles. However, increasing the Ag@SiO2\nconcentration in the mesoporous layer past the optimum level cannot further increase the short-circuit\ncurrent density and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of the devices, which is\nprimarily ascribed to the electron transport pathways being impeded by the insulating silica shells\ninside the TiO2 network.
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