TY - JOUR
T1 - Facile synthesis of highly branched jacks-like ZnO nanorods and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells
AU - Sudhagar, P.
AU - Kumar, R. Saravana
AU - Jung, June Hyuk
AU - Cho, Woohyung
AU - Sathyamoorthy, R.
AU - Won, Jongok
AU - Kang, Yong Soo
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering Research Center Program (2011-0001055) and from Sejong University through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.
PY - 2011/9
Y1 - 2011/9
N2 - Highly branched, jacks-like ZnO nanorods architecture were explored as a photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells, and their photovoltaic performance was compared with that of branch-free ZnO nanorods photoanodes. The highly branched network and large pores of the jacks-like ZnO nanorods electrodes enhances the charge transport, and electrolyte penetration. Thus, the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSCs render a higher conversion efficiency of η = 1.82% (Voc = 0.59 V, Jsc = 5.52 mA cm-2) than that of the branch-free ZnO nanorods electrodes (η = 1.08%, Voc = 0.49 V, Jsc = 4.02 mA cm-2). The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency measurements reveal that the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSCs exhibit higher internal quantum efficiency (∼59.1%) than do the branch-free ZnO nanorods DSSC (∼52.5%). The charge transfer resistances at the ZnO/dye/electrolyte interfaces investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSC had high charge transfer resistance and a slightly longer electron lifetime, thus improving the solar-cell performance.
AB - Highly branched, jacks-like ZnO nanorods architecture were explored as a photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells, and their photovoltaic performance was compared with that of branch-free ZnO nanorods photoanodes. The highly branched network and large pores of the jacks-like ZnO nanorods electrodes enhances the charge transport, and electrolyte penetration. Thus, the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSCs render a higher conversion efficiency of η = 1.82% (Voc = 0.59 V, Jsc = 5.52 mA cm-2) than that of the branch-free ZnO nanorods electrodes (η = 1.08%, Voc = 0.49 V, Jsc = 4.02 mA cm-2). The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency measurements reveal that the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSCs exhibit higher internal quantum efficiency (∼59.1%) than do the branch-free ZnO nanorods DSSC (∼52.5%). The charge transfer resistances at the ZnO/dye/electrolyte interfaces investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that the jacks-like ZnO nanorods DSSC had high charge transfer resistance and a slightly longer electron lifetime, thus improving the solar-cell performance.
KW - A. Nanostructures
KW - A. Oxides
KW - B. Chemical synthesis
KW - C. Electron microscopy
KW - C. X-ray diffraction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960609133&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.materresbull.2011.04.027
DO - 10.1016/j.materresbull.2011.04.027
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79960609133
SN - 0025-5408
VL - 46
SP - 1473
EP - 1479
JO - Materials Research Bulletin
JF - Materials Research Bulletin
IS - 9
ER -
