This paper presents a systematic investigation on the incorporation of chemical exfoliation graphene sheets (GS) in TiO(2) nanoparticle films via a molecular grafting method for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By controlling the oxidation time in the chemical exfoliation process, both high conductivity of reduced GS and good attachment of TiO(2) nanoparticles on the GS were achieved. Uniform GS/TiO(2) composite films with large areas on conductive glass were prepared by electrophoretic deposition, and the incorporation of GS significantly improved the conductivity of the TiO(2) nanoparticle film by more than 2 orders of magnitude. Moreover, the power conversion efficiency for DSSC based on GS/TiO(2) composite films is more than 5 times higher than that based on TiO(2) alone, indicating that the incorporation of GS is an efficient means for enhancing the photovoltaic (PV) performance. The better PV performance of GS/TiO(2) DSSC is also attributed to the better dye loading of GS/TiO(2) film than that of TiO(2) film. The effect of GS content on the PV performances was also investigated. It was found that the power conversion efficiency increased first and then decreased with the increasing of GS concentration due to the decrease in the transmittance at high GS content. Further improvements can be expected by fully optimizing fabrication conditions and device configuration, such as increasing dye loading via thicker films. The present synthetic strategy is expected to lead to a family of composites with designed properties.

Well-aligned ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays with durable and reproducible p-type conductivity were synthesized on alpha-sapphire substrates by using N2O as a dopant source via vapor-liquid-solid growth. The nitrogen-doped ZnO NWs are single-crystalline and grown predominantly along the [110] direction, in contrast to the [001] direction of undoped ZnO NWs. Electrical transport measurements reveal that the nondoped ZnO NWs exhibit n-type conductivity, whereas the nitrogen-doped ZnO NWs show compensated highly resistive n-type and finally p-type conductivity upon increasing N2O ratio in the reaction atmosphere. The electrical properties of p-type ZnO NWs are stable and reproducible with a hole concentration of (1-2) x 10(18) cm(-3) and a field-effect mobility of 10-17 cm2 V(-2) s(-1). Surface adsorptions have a significant effect on the transport properties of NWs. Temperature-dependent PL spectra of N-doped ZnO NWs show acceptor-bound-exciton emission, which corroborates the p-type conductivity. The realization of p-type ZnO NWs with durable and controlled transport properties is important for fabrication of nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices.

As an important II-VI semiconductor, ZnO has attracted increasing interests owing to its unique properties such as wide band-gap (3.37 eV) and large exciton binding energy (60 meV).[1] ZnO has shown great potential in optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes (LED) and laser diodes (LDs) operating in the short-wavelength or UV region.[2]Compared to their thin-film counterparts, [3][4] nanoscale devices assembled on free-standing nanowires [5][6][7][8][9][10] could enable new functions, high efficiency, enhanced performance, and diverse applications. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] As in thin-film devices, the success of nanodevices similarly relies on the capability of controlling the transport and electrical properties of the selected materials. Doping via introducing electron donor or acceptor elements into the host crystal is a successful approach in thin-film or planar electronic/optoelectronic devices. However, such doping approach remains a challenge for nanostructured materials. To date, while n-and p-type dopings have been achieved in Si, [11][12] InP, [13] CdS, [14] and GaN [15] nanowires/ nanoribbons, many issues of doping, such as control of doping type and conductivity, remain largely untapped or unresolved. For ZnO nanostructures, group III elements (Al, Ga, or In) are commonly used to substitute Zn to induce n-type conductivity. The success of doping is often accompanied and characterized by changes in optical, electrical, and/or structural properties of ZnO nanostructures. For example, Al-doped ZnO nanowires exhibited a blue shift from 3.29 to 3.34 eV in the cathodoluminescent (CL) spectra.[21] Ga 2 O 3 was also employed to dope n-type ZnO nanofibers grown in a vaporphase transport process. [22] however switched to n-type after two months storage in an ambient environment. Despite the considerable efforts, rational synthesis of ZnO nanostructures with tunable n-type conductivity is not available. The as-synthesized ZnO nanostructures are often randomly oriented, and thus have limited applications in optoelectronic devices. Therefore, it is necessary to have a better understanding of the doping efficiency and transport properties of ZnO nanostructures. Herein, we report a controlled growth and doping process of well-aligned ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays via thermal evaporation. The growth direction of ZnO NWs was found to depend on the dopant content, and NW conductivity could be varied over two orders of magnitude. The electrical properties of ZnO NWs were characterized using single-nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs). Figure 1 shows the electron microscopy images of ZnO NW arrays synthesized on a-plane sapphire substrates. The content of Ga 2 O 3 in the source mixtures was varied from 0 to 1 at %. The representative NWs synthesized with 0, 0.2, and 1 at % of Ga 2 O 3 are denoted as samples A, B, and C, respectively. Both the undoped (Fig. 1a and b) and Ga-doped (Fig. 1c) ZnO NWs are aligned vertically on the substrates, and uniform over a large area. The NWs have a uniform dia...