A review of zinc oxide photoanode films for dye-sensitized solar cells based on zinc oxide nanostructures

Abstract

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.

A theoretical and experimental investigation of Eu-doped ZnO nanorods and its application on dye sensitized solar cells

“…The ZnO has advantages over the porous TiO 2 , such as higher electron diffusivity, a higher electron mobility, is available at low-cost, and stability against photocorrosion [11,12]. In addition, the polar surfaces of the wurtzite crystalline structure enables the growth of many kinds of ZnO nanostructures [13], including nanowires [14], nanorods [15], nanobelts [16], nanosprings [17], nanorings [18], nanobowls [19], nanoflowers [20], and nanohelices [21]. Among all these structures, in particular, the one dimensional (1-D) ZnO nanostructures, like as nanorods and nanowires, have received increasing attention in recent years, due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, which can provide an effective direct pathway for rapid transport of the photoelectrons and a higher surface area for dye adsorption, enhancing the photovoltaic performance of the DSSCs [22e24].…”

Doped Zinc Oxide Nanostructures for Photovoltaic Solar Cells Application

“…Chemical techniques are very simple, much reliable and cost-effective for the synthesis of high-quality electrodes for PV application. Most especially, chemical bath deposition technique is very suitable for growing large area films of ZnO with fascinating properties for photoelectrochemical solar cells [15,16]. This technique is suitable for growing ZnO nanostructures on many substrates including microscope glass and stainless steel [6].…”