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ZnO/TiO₂ composite photoanodes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Liqing Zhang

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P. R. China

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Shuai Zhou

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P. R. China

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Fengshi Cai

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P. R. China

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, and

Zhihao Yuan

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P. R. China

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793604714500398Cited by:4 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

ZnO/TiO₂ composite films composed of a ZnO nanoflowers overlayer and a ZnO/TiO₂ composite particulate underlayer were fabricated by a simple hydrothermal process. The as-prepared films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffused reflectance spectroscopy. The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) was investigated by photocurrent–voltage measurements, incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It was found that the ZnO/TiO₂ composite film prepared with a 60 min growth time exhibited higher reflectivity than that of pure TiO₂ film due to the effective light-scattering of ZnO nanoflowers, resulting in increased J_sc. In the meantime, the open-circuit potential of the device were enhanced from 698 to 826 mV due to the formation of an energy barrier by ZnO at TiO₂/electrolyte interface, resulting in a 52% improvement in the power conversion efficiency from 4.64 to 7.06%.

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