Manufacturing process and optical properties of zinc oxide thin films as photoanode in DSSC (original) (raw)
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Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a unique semiconductor material that exhibits numerous useful properties for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and other applications. Various thin-film growth techniques have been used to produce nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes, nanotips, nanosheets, nanobelts and terapods of ZnO. These unique nanostructures unambiguously demonstrate that ZnO probably has the richest family of nanostructures among all materials, both in structures and in properties. The nanostructures could have novel applications in solar cells, optoelectronics, sensors, transducers and biomedical sciences. This article reviews the various nanostructures of ZnO grown by various techniques and their application in DSSCs. The application of ZnO nanowires, nanorods in DSSCs became outstanding, providing a direct pathway to the anode for photo-generated electrons thereby suppressing carrier recombination. This is a novel characteristic which increases the efficiency of ZnO based dye-sensitized solar cells.
Key Engineering Materials, 2018
In the current study, various morphologies of zinc oxide (ZnO) including nanorods, nanoflowers, nanosheets/flakes, nanospherical particles, nanohexagonal sheets, and nanoneedles have been prepared by using single step and two-step hydrothermal processes with optimized parameters such as growth temperature, growth time and compositions of both the seed and growth solutions. Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass was used as the substrate. The prepared morphologies were characterized with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the purity of nanostructures was confirmed by elemental analysis (EDX). These nanostructures were used as photo-anode material to fabricate the DSSC using a dye (Rhodamine B) for enhancing the range of solar spectrum that is to be adsorbed. Finally the fabricated solar cells were characterized in terms of their efficiency, gauged by their fill factor. Among different morphologies investigated as photo anode materials; nanosheets/flakes were foun...
THE STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF ZnO/TiO2 BILAYER THIN FILM AS PHOTOANODE
Journal, 2017
The ZnO/TiO2 bilayer was fabricated on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate. The ZnO nanorods and TiO2 nanoparticles were developed as photoanode material that were fabricated by using sol-gel immersion and squeegee method. The structure of ZnO/TiO2 bilayer showed a good properties for photoanode in DSSCs application. The ZnO/TiO2 bilayer has large surface area that could increase a dye loading and performance of photoanode. Meanwhile, the micro-Raman spectra of ZnO/TiO2 bilayer indicated a good crystallinity. Therefore, the ZnO/TiO2 bilayer showed a good structure for photoanode in DSSCs application.
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 2015
The effect of hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) concentration while keeping zinc nitrate [Zn(NO 3) 2 ] at constant concentration and vice versa on the morphology, optical absorption, structure of ZnO nanostructure and the performance of the DSSC utilizing the ZnO samples has been investigated. The ZnO photoanode samples were deposited on FTO substrate via hydrothermal growth at 90°C for 8 h followed by cooling at 50°C for 16 h. It was found that the structure and morphology of ZnO nanostructure are significantly influenced by the molar ratio of precursor concentration. The high density and smaller diameter of ZnO nanorods were formed when molar ratio of OHion concentration was increased. The modification on the shape and porosity of ZnO nanostructure are seemingly influenced by the amount of free ion Zn ?2 in the growth solution. The samples have been utilized as photoanode in DSSC. The DSSC utilizing ZnO nanosheets performs the J SC , V OC , FF and g of 3.6 mA cm-2 , 0.50 V, 0.31 and 0.56 %, respectively. The highest performance of that cell is due to the high density and unique morphology of ZnO nanosheets that offered high specific surface area for higher dye loading and light harvesting.
Fabrication and Characterization of Zno:In Thin Film as Photoanode for DSSC Using Natural Fruit Dyes
Dye synthesized solar cell (DSSC) is the third generation solar cell and is considered as low cost solar cell as it does not involved neither complicated fabrication process nor expensive materials. DSSC is made of two conductive glasses, photoanode, counter electrode, electrolyte and dye. Previously, majority of the researchers have been using titanium dioxide and ruthenium as the photoanode and dye respectively. This project is carried out to produce a lower cost DSSC by using natural fruit as the dye and exploring the potential of zinc oxide (ZnO) and indium (In) as the photoanode. The morphology of the thin film surfaces were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy which shows that the increment of indium dopant changes the rough surface texture of the thin film and directly reduces the empty spaces between the particles. Theoretically, this structure can help to reduce the light reflection on the solar cell surface. The thin ZnO:In films are immersed in 3 different fruit dyes (plum, apple and orange). The electrical properties of the DSSCs are displayed in the I-V curves and from this research, it shows that the highest efficiency of DSSC is gained from the dopant combination of ZnO0.8In0.2 for all the dyes. The best efficiency of this research is the DSSC using plum dye with 0.34% compared to apple dye and orange dye which give 0.23% and 0.19% respectively.
Zinc oxide nano thin film for solar cell device applications
2022
Background: Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin film was deposited using simple low cost spray pyrolysis technique. The deposited film was characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. XRD Spectra revealed that ZnO film represents polycrystalline wurzite crystal structure. Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) was estimated using Lorentz Fit of XRD data. The crystallite size calculated was to be 26.31 nm. The SEM image of ZnO thin film shows whole surface was uniformly coated with spherical ZnO grains of average size 111.55 nm. Purity of the deposited sample was investigated by using Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX). The deposited ZnO film shows 78% transmittance. The optical band gap estimated by Tauc plot was 3.76eV. Address for Correspondence: Dr Sarika Jadhav, Department Of Physics Sant Tukaram College Of Arts And Science, Parbhani, INDIA. Email:sarika.jadhav125@gmail.com Received Date: 10/08/2021 Revised Date: 29/09/2021 Accept...
Role of film thickness on the properties of ZnO thin films grown by sol-gel method
Thin Solid Films, 2013
This paper reports the effect of thickness on the structural, morphological and optical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) films. Thickness of ZnO films varied from 98 to 366 nm with an increase in the number of deposition cycles. Surface morphological studies showed that the increase in the film thickness causes an increase in the grain size. Roughness of the films has increased from 5.8 to 47 nm with an increase in the film thickness from 98 to 366 nm. The band gap is observed to vary from 3.33 to 3.24 eV with change in the film thickness from 98 to 366 nm. Thickness of the film affected the overall properties of the ZnO films significantly. The large surface roughness makes ZnO films to be potentially used as electrode in solar cells and gas sensing applications.
Investigating the Effects of Thickness on the Performance of ZnO-Based DSSC
2021
Zinc oxide nanostructures exhibit unique properties which make them suitable for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. Their specific properties such as appropriate optical properties, proper energy band gap and high electron transfer characteristics have motivated researchers to use them in the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cell photo-anodes. In the present study, the effect of thickness on the performance of a new ZnO photo-anode has been studied. All the photovoltaic parameters of the cells fabricated using N719 ruthenium dye were measured. SEM technique was utilized to determine the thickness and the UV-Visible method was used to study the transparent properties of the photo-anodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique was employed to determine the appropriate equivalent circuit for studying the electron transfer mechanisms in all the fabricated cells. The results demonstrated that the ZnO thickness is a critical parameter for providing either sufficient resi...
2007 International Semiconductor Conference, 2007
A novel and efficient low-temperature aqueous chemical method has been used to synthesize a new generation of smart and functional zinc oxide nanomaterials. The ZnO nanostructures are obtained and the physical and structural requirements of their applications in chemical sensors and solar cells are analyzed. Post-growth rapid photothermal annealing of nanostructures at 650°C in an atmosphere of N2 leads to the decrease in structure defects as compared to the as-grown nanostructures. The sensing behaviour of the nanostructured elements when exposed to 100 ppm ammonia is investigated