A photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells based on a ZnO/TiO2composite film was fabricated on a transparent conductive glass substrate using different techniques including electrophoretic deposition, screen printing, and colloidal spray coating. The ZnOs used in the composite film were ZnO tetrapods prepared via thermal evaporation and ZnO nanorods obtained via hydrothermal growth. The structural and morphological characterizations of the thin composite films were carried out using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The best power conversion was 1.87%, which corresponds to the laminated TiO2/ZnO/TiO2structure prepared via screen printing.

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ZnO nanotetrapods were prepared by hydrothermal emulsion method. The X-ray diffraction result showed the hexagonal wurtzite structure of the ZnO nanotetrapods. The main morphology of the ZnO whiskers is a nanotetrapod, aside from the sheet- and flower-shaped ZnO. Growth time and cyclohexane dosage exert some influences on the morphology and size of ZnO. In addition, aluminum doping plays an important role on the morphology of ZnO.

Nanocrystalline Sb 2 S 3 was synthesized using chemical bath deposition, and TiO 2 -Sb 2 S 3 composite electrodes were fabricated by combining the nanocrystalline Sb 2 S 3 with mesoporous TiO 2 thin films. The composite electrodes were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, and UV-Visible absorption. P3HT and CuSCN were used as hole-transporting materials, and thermally evaporated silver films were used as counter electrodes in the fabricated solar cells. The solar cells with P3HT or CuSCN as hole-transporting material exhibit the highest efficiencies of 0.34 and 0.47 %, respectively.