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Application of hydrothermally synthesized zinc oxide nanorods in quantum dots-sensitized solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Sheng He ,
Xiaoping Zou ,
Zhe Sun ,
Gongqing Teng  and
Chuan Zhao
Sheng He
Affiliation:
Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Key Laboratory for sensor, Ministry-of- Education Key Laboratory for Modern Measurement and Control Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Beijing information Science and Technology University, Jianxiangqiao Campus, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
Xiaoping Zou*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Key Laboratory for sensor, Ministry-of- Education Key Laboratory for Modern Measurement and Control Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Beijing information Science and Technology University, Jianxiangqiao Campus, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China; and State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Zhe Sun
Affiliation:
Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Key Laboratory for sensor, Ministry-of- Education Key Laboratory for Modern Measurement and Control Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Beijing information Science and Technology University, Jianxiangqiao Campus, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
Gongqing Teng
Affiliation:
Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Key Laboratory for sensor, Ministry-of- Education Key Laboratory for Modern Measurement and Control Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Beijing information Science and Technology University, Jianxiangqiao Campus, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
Chuan Zhao
Affiliation:
Research Center for Sensor Technology, Beijing Key Laboratory for sensor, Ministry-of- Education Key Laboratory for Modern Measurement and Control Technology, School of Applied Sciences, Beijing information Science and Technology University, Jianxiangqiao Campus, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: xpzou2005@gmail.com
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Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterial is a superior material for photoanode. However, the different reaction concentrations, growth time and reaction vessel have influences on the structure and morphology of ZnO, and and ultimately have a bearing on the performance of solar cells. In this article, we used the hydrothermal method for the preparation of ZnO nanostructure. For avoiding direct contact of electrolyte with fluorine-doped tin oxide conducting glass, and decrease the recombination probabilities, we used titanium tetrachloride pretreatment. For obtaining flower-like ZnO nanostructure that was composed of smaller diameter ZnO nanorods, we fabricated a smaller-particle seed layer prior to growing ZnO nanostructure. For the sake of getting the best performances of solar cells, we examined the various effects of different deposition cycles on the performance of the solar cells. We discovered that when the deposition cycles increased, short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency all increased. But when the deposition exceeded 9 cycles, the values of all the parameters decreased. When the deposition cycle is 9, the conversion efficiency is 1.156%.

Keywords

crystallographic structurehydrothermalelectrical properties
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , 28 March 2013 , pp. 817 - 823
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013

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