Efficiency enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cells' performance with ZnO nanorods grown by low-temperature hydrothermal reaction

Fang I. Lai, Jui Fu Yang, Shou Yi Kuo*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) with various lengths (1.5-5 μm) were deposited on ZnO:Al (AZO)-coated glass substrates by using a solution phase deposition method; these NRs were prepared for application as working electrodes to increase the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of solar cells. The results were observed in detail by using X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible spectrophotometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, incident photo-to-current conversion efficiency, and solar simulation. The results indicated that when the lengths of the ZnO NRs increased, the adsorption of D-719 dyes through the ZnO NRs increased along with enhancing the short-circuit photocurrent and open-circuit voltage of the cell. An optimal power conversion efficiency of 0.64% was obtained in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) containing the ZnO NR with a length of 5 μm. The objective of this study was to facilitate the development of a ZnO-based DSSC.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8860-8867
Number of pages8
JournalMaterials
Volume8
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the authors.

Keywords

  • AZO film
  • Dye-sensitized solar cells
  • Nanorods

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