Application of ZnO with Different Morphologies to DSSCs

ZnO is an attractive material for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) related to its good electron transport properties. It can be synthesized with different morphologies relatively easily by methods such as electrodeposition, sol-gel, either using forced hydrolysis or a microwave-assisted method [1].

There is a growing interest in linking the crystallographic planes of the material to performance of the solar cell. In this work, ZnO with different morphologies was obtained by the microwave-assisted technique at pH values of 5.5. 8, 10 and 12, and the materials were applied in the fabrication of DSSCs using the screen printing technique after preparing a paste. The surface area of the powders was characterized by BET, and the deposited ZnO layers were characterized by XRD, TEM and SEM. The cells were characterized by I-V curves and the amount of adsorbed dye was determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. It was found that the best cells were obtained with the morphology that resulted in the synthesis at pH 10, where the (100) plane is predominant.

References: 

1.         N. Morales-Flores, R. Galeazzi, E. Rosendo, T. Díaz, S. Velumani and U. Pal. Morphology control and optical properties of ZnO nanostructures grown by ultrasonic synthesis. Advances in Nano Research, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2013) 59-70.

Figure 1:  SEM images of the different morphologies of the ZnO nanomaterials