Surfactant mediated one- and two-dimensional ZnO nanostructured thin films for dye sensitized solar cell application

One-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were electrodeposited from aqueous zinc chloride on FTO glass substrates. The effects of organic surfactant such as cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on structural, morphological, crystal quality and optical properties of electrodeposited ZnO films were investigated. The x-ray diffraction pattern revealed that the prepared thin films were pure wutrzite hexagonal structure. The thin films deposited using organic surfactant in this work showed different morphologies such as nanoplatelet and flower. The hexagonal platelet and flower-like nanostructures were obtained in the presence of CTAB and PVA surfactant, respectively. The crystal quality and atomic vacancies of the prepared nanostructured thin films were investigated by micro Raman spectroscopic technique. The emission properties and optical quality of the films were studied by photoluminescence spectrometry. PEMA-LiClO₄-EC gel polymer electrolyte has been used to replace the liquid electrolyte for reducing the leakage problem. Graphene counter electrode was used as an alternative for platinum electrode. Eosin yellow dye was used as a sensitizer. J–V characterizations were carried out for different 1D and 2D nanostructures. The nanoflower structure exhibited higher efficiency (η = 0.073%) than the other two nanostructures. (paper)