Issue 48, 2011

Constructing nanorod–nanoparticles hierarchical structure at low temperature as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: combining relatively fast electron transport and high dye-loading together

Abstract

ZnO nanorodnanoparticles (NR–NPs) hierarchical structure was prepared via a two-step hydrothermal process at 70 °C. In the hierarchical structure, ZnO nanorods prepared at step one served as the backbone for direct electron transport while ZnO nanoparticles synthesized at step two offered large surface area for dye-loading. Both reaction temperature and reaction time at step two had a significant influence on the morphology of the product. At a higher temperature, microspheres appeared above the nanorod film instead of nanoparticles surrounding the nanorods. Prolonging the reaction time to 24 h, the NR–NPs structure would transform to nanorod–nanoplants. Intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy results showed that the photoanode composed of the NR–NPs hierarchical structure had an electron diffusion coefficient (Dn) much higher than that of the nanoparticles. The dye desorption results showed that the dye adsorption amount for the NR–NPs structure was as much as 250% of that for the nanorods. Compared with dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) based on nanorods, the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of the DSCs based on NR–NPs hierarchical structure improved remarkably. Under AM 1.5G illumination (100 mW cm−2), the power conversion efficiency of DSCs based on photoanodes composed of NR–NPs hierarchical structure exhibited a significant improvement (more than 120%) compared with that of ZnO nanorods.

Graphical abstract: Constructing nanorod–nanoparticles hierarchical structure at low temperature as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: combining relatively fast electron transport and high dye-loading together

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Aug 2011
Accepted
24 Sep 2011
First published
01 Nov 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 19389-19394

Constructing nanorodnanoparticles hierarchical structure at low temperature as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: combining relatively fast electron transport and high dye-loading together

H. Dong, L. Wang, R. Gao, B. Ma and Y. Qiu, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 19389 DOI: 10.1039/C1JM14191K

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