Email this article 
Performance of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) with ZnO Nanorod Electrode in Different Seed Solution
Abstract
Studies of comparing the performance of photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) continue to be carried out and developed. The ZnO nanorods as an electrode for DSSCs have been shown to have high electron collection due to the capability of electron photoexcitation and increased electron transport. Various methods of making ZnO nanorods have been studied and developed. However, the method requires controlled conditions under high temperature and pressure, thus limiting the commercialization of ZnO nanorods. Therefore, the seed solution-based hydrothermal method was chosen in the ZnO nanorod deposition process because it is an effective method, low-cost and easier fabrication process. The method of growing ZnO nanorod was carried out with three times of growing for 6 hours. ZnO nanorod was synthesized using different seed solutions, namely sample 1 and sample 2 by using methoxy and isopropanol, respectively. In this work, the SEM image shows the growth of ZnO nanorods vertically aligned on the FTO substrate and resulted in a smaller diameter for the isopropanol seed solution. The smaller diameter of the ZnO nanorod provides a larger surface area then increasing the total amount of dye attached to the ZnO nanorod and improve the photovoltaic performance.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
T. Marimuthu, N. Anandhan, and R. Thangamuthu, “Electrochemical synthesis of one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures on ZnO seed layer for DSSC applications,” Appl. Surf. Sci., vol. 428, pp. 385–394, Jan. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.09.116.
S. S. Mali, J. V. Patil, and C. K. Hong, “Nanorod-based dye sensitized solar cells,” in Nanomaterials for Solar Cell Applications, Elsevier, pp. 349–374, 2019, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-813337-8.00010-2.
N. A. Karim, U. Mehmood, H. F. Zahid, and T. Asif, “Nanostructured photoanode and counter electrode materials for efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs),” Sol. Energy, vol. 185, pp. 165–188, Jun. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2019.04.057.
I. Iwantono, S. K. Md Saad, R. Yuda, M. Y. Abd Rahman, and A. A. Umar, “Structural and properties transformation in ZnO hexagonal nanorod by ruthenium doping and its effect on DSSCs power conversion efficiency,” Superlattices Microstruct., vol. 123, pp. 119–128, Nov. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.spmi.2018.05.041.
S. Kannan, N. P. Subiramaniyam, and Su. Lavanisadevi, “Controllable synthesis of ZnO nanorods at different temperatures for enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell performance,” Mater. Lett., vol. 274, p. 127994, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.matlet.2020.127994.
C. Wang, S. Luo, C. Liu, X. Liu, and C. Chen, “Photocatalytic performance of single crystal ZnO nanorods and ZnO nanorods films under natural sunlight,” Inorg. Chem. Commun., vol. 114, p. 107842, Apr. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.inoche.2020.107842.
H. U. Chae, A. ul H. S. Rana, Y.-J. Park, and H.-S. Kim, “High-speed growth of ZnO nanorods in preheating condition using microwave-assisted growth method,” J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol., vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 2041–2044, Mar. 2018, doi: 10.1166/jnn.2018.14971.
K. Sharma, V. Sharma, and S. S. Sharma, “Dye-sensitized solar cells: Fundamentals and current status,” Nanoscale Res. Lett., vol. 13, no. 1, p. 381, Dec. 2018, doi: 10.1186/s11671-018-2760-6.
M. Saleem et al., “Solution processed Zn1−x−ySmxCuyO nanorod arrays for dye sensitized solar cells,” Nanomaterials, vol. 11, no. 7, p. 1710, Jun. 2021, doi: 10.3390/nano11071710.
A. Hezam et al., “Electronically semitransparent ZnO nanorods with superior electron transport ability for DSSCs and solar photocatalysis,” Ceram. Int., vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 7202–7208, Apr. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2018.01.167.
A. Akshaykranth, T. V. Rao, and R. R. Kumar, “Growth of ZnO nanorods on biodegradable poly (lactic acid) (PLA) substrates by low temperature solution method,” Mater. Lett., vol. 259, p. 126807, Jan. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.matlet.2019.126807.
P. K. Singh, B. Bhattacharya, and Z. H. Khan, "Environment approachable dye sensitized solar cell using abundant natural pigment based dyes with solid polymer electrolyte," Optik, vol. 165, pp. 186–194, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2018.03.099.
M. Yang et al., “High performance acetone sensor based on ZnO nanorods modified by Au nanoparticles,” J. Alloys Compd., vol. 797, pp. 246–252, Aug. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.05.101.
S. Kumar, P. D. Sahare, and S. Kumar, “Optimization of the CVD parameters for ZnO nanorods growth: Its photoluminescence and field emission properties,” Mater. Res. Bull., vol. 105, pp. 237–245, Sep. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2018.05.002.
M. A. K. Purbayanto et al., “Enhancement in green luminescence of ZnO nanorods grown by dc-unbalanced magnetron sputtering at room temperature,” Opt. Mater., vol. 108, p. 110418, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.optmat.2020.110418.
A. Moulahi and F. Sediri, "Controlled synthesis of nano-ZnO via hydro/solvothermal process and study of their optical properties," Optik, vol. 127, no. 19, pp. 7586-7593, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2016.05.128.
R. Bekkari et al., “Effect of solvents and stabilizer molar ratio on the growth orientation of sol-gel-derived ZnO thin films,” Int. J. Photoenergy, vol. 2019, pp. 1–7, Feb. 2019, doi: 10.1155/2019/3164043.
S. J. Dhoble, N. T. Kalyani, B. Vengadaesvaran, and A. K. Arof, Energy Materials Fundamentals to Applications. San Diego, California, USA: Elsevier, 2021.
C. Han et al., “Study on the components of isopropanol aqueous solution,” Optik, vol. 155, pp. 307–314, Feb. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2017.10.164.
B. Zhai, L. Yang, and Y. M. Huan, "Improving the efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells by growing longer ZnO nanorods on TiO2 photoanodes" J. of Nanomaterials, vol. 2017, p. 1821837, 2017, doi: 10.1155/2017/1821837.
Copyright (c) 2021 Herlin Pujiarti, Nadiya Ayu Astarini, Markus Diantoro, Muhammad Safwan Aziz, Rachmat Hidayat
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License