The influence of tetrapod-like ZnO morphology and electrolytes on energy conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Tetrapod-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by dc plasma technology were used as photoelectrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) Each of the tetrapod-like ZnO possesses four extended arms that offer improved electron transport properties Tetrapod-like ZnO with short (S-ZnO) and long arms (L-ZnO) were synthesized by controlling the plasma gas flow and the input power Between these two tetrapod-like ZnO nanopowders the DSSCs using S-ZnO showed higher energy conversion efficiency than using L-ZnO This is due to the resulting increase in dye adsorption and enhanced short-circuit current density using S-ZnO Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows that the properties of electron transport of S-ZnO are superior to that of the L-ZnO We investigated the effect of the redox electrolytes (12) and the additives (Lil and TBP) on the performance of the DSSCs by intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy and EIS (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved