Impact of particle shape on electron transport and lifetime in zinc oxide nanorod-based dye-sensitized solar cells

AIMS Materials Science

卷:3

Roger Chang¹  Ilona Kretzschmar¹  Kemakorn Ithisuphalap¹ 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, City College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA;

关键词: DSCs;    DSSCs;    ZnO;    TiO₂;    shape dependence;    surface properties;    porosity;    interconnectivity;    electron mobility;   

DOI  :  10.3934/matersci.2016.1.51

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Owing to its high electron mobility, zinc oxide represents a promising alternative to titanium dioxide as the working electrode material in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). When zinc oxide is grown into 1-D nanowire arrays and incorporated into the working electrode of DSCs, enhanced electron dynamics and even a decoupling of electron transport (τ_d) and electron lifetime (τ_n) have been observed. In this work, DSCs with working electrodes composed of solution-grown, unarrayed ZnO nanorods are investigated. In order to determine whether such devices give rise to similar decoupling, intensity modulated photocurrent and photovoltage spectroscopies are used to measure τ_d and τ_n, while varying the illumination intensity. In addition, ZnO nanorod-based DSCs are compared with ZnO nanoparticle-based DSCs and nanomaterial shape is shown to affect electron dynamics. Nanorod-based DSCs exhibit shorter electron transport times, longer electron lifetimes, and a higher τ_n/τ_d ratio than nanoparticle-based DSCs.

【 授权许可】

Unknown