Effect of ZnO Nanoparticles Coating Layers on Top of ZnO Nanowires for Morphological, Optical, and Photovoltaic Properties of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
by
Muhammad Saleem 1, W. A. Farooq 2,*, M. I. Khan 3, Majid. Niaz. Akhtar 4, Saif Ur Rehman 5, Naseeb Ahmad 1, Muhammad Khalid 6, M. Atif 2, Mona A. AlMutairi 2 and Muhammad Irfan 7
Muhammad Saleem 1, W. A. Farooq 2,*, M. I. Khan 3, Majid. Niaz. Akhtar 4, Saif Ur Rehman 5, Naseeb Ahmad 1, Muhammad Khalid 6, M. Atif 2, Mona A. AlMutairi 2 and Muhammad Irfan 7
1
Department of Physics, Khwaja Freed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan 64200, Pakistan
2
Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Physics, The University of Lahore, Lahore 53700, Pakistan
4
Department of Physics, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (MNS) University of Engineering and Technology, Multan 60000, Pakistan
5
Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
6
Department of Chemistry, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan 64200, Pakistan
7
CAS Key Laboratory of strongly Coupled Quantum matter Physics, USTC, Hefei 230026, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Micromachines 2019, 10(12), 819; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10120819
Received: 25 August 2019 / Revised: 12 November 2019 / Accepted: 20 November 2019 / Published: 26 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Photovoltaic Devices)
This paper reports on the synthesis of ZnO nanowires (NWs), as well asthe compound nanostructures of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanowires (NWs+NPs) with different coating layers of NPs on the top of NWs and their integration in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In compound nanostructures, NWs offer direct electrical pathways for fast electron transfer, and the NPs of ZnOdispread and fill the interstices between the NWs of ZnO, offering a huge surface area for enough dye anchoring and promoting light harvesting. A significant photocurrent density of 2.64 mA/cm2 and energy conversion efficiency of 1.43% was obtained with NWs-based DSSCs. The total solar-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of the NWs+a single layer of NPs was found to be 2.28%, with a short-circuit photocurrent density (JSC) of 3.02 mA/cm2, open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.74 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.76, which is 60% higher than that of NWs cells and over 165% higher than NWs+a triple layer of NPs-based DSSCs. The improved performance was obtained due to the increased specific surface area for higher dye anchoring and light harvesting of compound nanostructures with NWs+a single layer of NPs.
Keywords:
DSSCs; coating layers of NPs; nanowires
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Saleem, M.; Farooq, W.A.; Khan, M.I.; Akhtar, M.N.; Rehman, S.U.; Ahmad, N.; Khalid, M.; Atif, M.; AlMutairi, M.A.; Irfan, M. Effect of ZnO Nanoparticles Coating Layers on Top of ZnO Nanowires for Morphological, Optical, and Photovoltaic Properties of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Micromachines 2019, 10, 819.
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