ZnO nanoparticles and nanowire array hybrid photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

ZnO nanoparticle-nanowire (NP-NW) array hybrid photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) with NW arrays to serve as a direct pathway for fast electron transport and NPs dispersed between NWs to offer a high specific surface area for sufficient dye adsorption has been fabricated and investigated to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The overall PCE of the ZnO hybrid photoanode DSC with the N3-sensitized has reached ∼4.2%, much higher than both ∼1.58% of ZnO NW DSC and ∼1.31% of ZnO NP DSC, prepared and tested under otherwise identical conditions.