Efficiency Enhancement of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells’ Performance with ZnO Nanorods Grown by Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Reaction
1
Department of Photonics Engineering, Yuan-Ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chung-Li 32003, Taiwan
2
Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
3
Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Tao-Yuan 33302, Taiwan
4
Department of Green Technology Research Center, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Tao-Yuan 33302, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Academic Editor: Joshua M. Pearce
Materials 2015, 8(12), 8860-8867; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125499
Received: 5 September 2015
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Revised: 9 December 2015
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Accepted: 10 December 2015
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Published: 19 December 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials and Electronic Devices)
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.
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Keywords:
dye-sensitized solar cells; nanorods; AZO film
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lai, F.-I.; Yang, J.-F.; Kuo, S.-Y. Efficiency Enhancement of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells’ Performance with ZnO Nanorods Grown by Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Reaction. Materials 2015, 8, 8860-8867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125499
AMA Style
Lai F-I, Yang J-F, Kuo S-Y. Efficiency Enhancement of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells’ Performance with ZnO Nanorods Grown by Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Reaction. Materials. 2015; 8(12):8860-8867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125499
Chicago/Turabian StyleLai, Fang-I, Jui-Fu Yang, and Shou-Yi Kuo. 2015. "Efficiency Enhancement of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells’ Performance with ZnO Nanorods Grown by Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Reaction" Materials 8, no. 12: 8860-8867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma8125499
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