Chemical Conversion Synthesis of ZnS Shell on ZnO Nanowire Arrays: Morphology Evolution and Its Effect on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Abstract

Heterostructured ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanowire arrays have been successfully fabricated to serve as photoanode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by a facile two-step approach, combining hydrothermal deposition and liquid-phase chemical conversion process. The morphology evolution of the ZnS coated on the ZnO nanowires and its effect on the performance of the DSSCs were systematically investigated by varying the reaction time during the chemical conversion process. The results show that the compact ZnS shell can effectively promote the photogenerated electrons transfer from the excited dye molecules to the conduction band of the ZnO, simultaneously suppress the recombination for the injected elelctrons from the dye and the redox electrolyte. As reaction time goes by, the surface of the nanowires becomes coarse because of the newly formed ZnS nanoparticles, which will enhance the dye loading, resulting in increment of the short-circuit current density (J(SC)) . Open-circuit photovoltage decay measurements also show that the electron lifetime (τ(n)) in the ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanostructures can be significantly prolonged because of the lower surface trap density in the ZnO after ZnS coating. For the ZnO/ZnS core/shell nanostructures, the J(SC) and η can reach a maximum of 8.38 mA/cm(2) and 1.92% after 6 h conversion time, corresponding to 12- and 16-fold increments of as-synthesized ZnO, respectively.

Design of sandwich-structured ZnO/ZnS/Au photoanode for enhanced efficiency of photoelectrochemical water splitting

“…that of ZnO, leading to the faster transfer of electrons to the conduction band [29]. When ZnO is stacked with ZnS, lattice strain along the ZnO/ZnS heterostructure interface can increase the oscillator strength, causing the band gap to be reduced below its initial value [37][38][39]. The band gap of ZnO can be compressed as a result of the interfacial strain from the staggered type II band alignment of the ZnO/ZnS heterostructure.…”

Integration of ZnO/ZnS nanostructured materials into a cotton fabric platform

“…During the suldation process, sodium sulde hydrolyzes in the aqueous solution to produce sulde ions (S 2À ) at 60 C that then react with the Zn 2+ ions from the outer surface of ZnO nanorod to form ZnS nanoparticles according to eqn (5). 33,[39][40][41][42] Zn 2+ (aq) + S 2À (aq) / ZnS(s) surface of the ZnO nanorods. The ZnO/ZnS core-shell hybrid nanorods maintain the original hexagonal morphology of the ZnO nanorods; however, the surface becomes rough as the polycrystalline ZnS nanoparticle aggregates form a shell on the ZnO nanorods.…”

CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cell based hierarchical branched ZnO nanoarrays

“…In QDSSCs the recombination is more complicated, including QDs. (C) and (D) can be the main factors that have influence the performance of solar cells [18]. As shown in Fig.…”