Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cells

The Dye sensitized solar cell is one of the huge and economic challenges in the 21st century to generate green power. The Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) plays an important role in harvesting electrical energy from the solar radiations. To aim at lowering the production costs, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is considered to as the alternative candidate for the conventional silicon based solar cell technology. The complex of oxide semiconductors and organic dyes based dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC), have emerged as promising approach to efficient solar energy conversion system. A typical DSSC consist of a nanocrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film in conjunction with the dye prepared on a transparent conducting oxide (FTO), a metal covers the entire back surface of the film and an electrolyte solution redox couple between the electrodes. The dye works as an adsorption of photons and induced with porous-structured ZnO film converts the solar photon into electron current. ZnO is one of the first metal oxides used in synthesis of dye sensitized solar cells of notable conversion efficiency. In this study, dye sensitized ZnO nanostructures synthesised onto ITO-coated glass substrates using a chemical bath deposition technique for dye-sensitized solar cell is presented. The effect of annealing temperature and modified dye on performance of dye absorption of ZnO nanoraods electrode is investigated. X-ray diffraction study shows the wurtzite structure of ZnO thin film. Surface morphology of ZnO nanorods is improved in annealing temperature. The experimental finding suggests, the solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency in absorption of modified dye, exhibited the best properties for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) when illuminated with 80 mW/cm². The more abundant electron interfacial recombination occurs in the M-sensitized ZnO thin films because of higher surface trap density in the ZnO photoanode. This work demonstrates the future goals that must be achieved to commercialize these approaches for everyday use. (author)