Abstract
Developing new technologies that could lead to alternatives to the traditional silicon-based solar panels, and to efficiently light the world in the future, is critically important because of limited natural petroleum resources. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are promisingly efficient and clean hybrid, organic–inorganic, low-cost molecular solar cell devices. The key components of DSSCs are the organic dyes that play the role of a photosensitizer—like the chlorophyll of a green plant that is responsible for photosynthesis—and nanostructured semiconductor metal oxides. Because of their unique, multifunctional properties, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures are promising materials to use to create photoanodes for DSSCs. This review looks at recent developments in the field of ZnO-based DSSC devices; synthesis of ZnO nanostructures with variable morphologies, including nanorods, nanofibers, nanotubes, nano-/microflowers, thin sheets, and nanoaggregates; factors that control the growth and morphologies of these nanomaterials; and the role of crystallographic planes for the synthesis of versatile ZnO nanostructures. This review also covers photoelectrode fabrication, DSSC device components, nature and chemical features of the dyes used as photosensitizers, and operational principles. In addition, various photovoltaic parameters such as current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, photoconversion efficiency, and factors that influence these parameters for ZnO-based DSSCs are summarized and discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Butler MA, Ginley DS (1980) Principles of photoelectrochemical, solar energy conversion. J Mater Sci 15:1–19. doi:10.1007/BF00552421
BP Statistical Review of World Energy (2014) London BP. doi: 10.1016/j.egypro.2013.06.172
BP (2010) BP Statistical Review of World Energy, London, BP
Becquerel AE (1839) Memoire sur les effects d´electriques produits sous l´ influence des rayons solaires. Acad des Sci 9:561–567
Fritts C (1885) On the Fritts selenium cell and batteries. Van Nostrands Eng Mag 32:388–395
Chapin D, Fuller C, Pearson G (1954) A new silicon p-n junction photocell for converting solar radiation into electrical power. J Appl Phys 25:676–677
Tsubomura H, Matsumura YNTA (1976) Dye sensitised zinc oxide: aqueous electrolyte: platinum photocell. Nature 261:402
Desilvestro J, Graetzel M, Kavan L et al (1985) Highly efficient sensitization of titanium dioxide. J Am Chem Soc 107:2988–2990
O’Regan B, Grätzel M (1991) A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films. Nature 353:737–740
Wang ZS, Kawauchi H, Kashima T, Arakawa H (2004) Significant influence of TiO2 photoelectrode morphology on the energy conversion efficiency of N719 dye-sensitized solar cell. Coord Chem Rev 248:1381–1389
Bach U, Lupo D, Comte P et al (1998) Solid-state dye-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 solar cells with high photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies. Nature 395:583–585
Lee DU, Jang SR, Vittal R et al (2008) CTAB facilitated spherical rutile TiO2 particles and their advantage in a dye-sensitized solar cell. Sol Energy 82:1042–1048
Zhao D, Peng T, Lu L et al (2008) Effect of annealing temperature on the photoelectrochemical properties of dye-sensitized solar cells made with mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticles. J Phys Chem C 112:8486–8494
Alivov Y, Fan ZY (2010) Dye-sensitized solar cells using TiO2 nanoparticles transformed from nanotube arrays. J Mater Sci 45:2902–2906. doi:10.1007/s10853-010-4281-2
Chappel S, Zaban A (2002) Nanoporous SnO2 electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: improved cell performance by the synthesis of 18 nm SnO2 colloids. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 71:141–152
Bandara J, Divarathne CM, Nanayakkara SD (2004) Fabrication of n-p junction electrodes made of n-type SnO2 and p-type NiO for control of charge recombination in dye sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 81:429–437
Quintana M, Marinado T, Nonomura K et al (2009) Organic chromophore-sensitized ZnO solar cells: electrolyte-dependent dye desorption and band-edge shifts. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 202:159–163
Green ANM, Palomares E, Haque SA et al (2005) Charge transport versus recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells employing nanocrystalline TiO2 and SnO2 films. J Phys Chem B 109:12525–12533
Qin P, Zhu H, Edvinsson T et al (2008) Design of an organic chromophore for P-type dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 130:8570–8571
Le Viet A, Jose R, Reddy MV et al (2010) Nb2O5 photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: choice of the polymorph. J Phys Chem C 114:21795–21800
Chang H, Kao MJ, Cho KC et al (2011) Integration of CuO thin films and dye-sensitized solar cells for thermoelectric generators. Curr Appl Phys 11:S19–S22
Habibi MH, Karimi B, Zendehdel M, Habibi M (2013) Fabrication, characterization of two nano-composite CuO–ZnO working electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cell. Spectrochim Acta - Part A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 116:374–380
Niu H, Zhang S, Ma Q et al (2013) Dye-sensitized solar cells based on flower-shaped α-Fe2O3 as a photoanode and reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline composite as a counter electrode. RSC Adv 3:17228–17235
Cavas M, Gupta RK, Al-Ghamdi AA et al (2013) Preparation and characterization of dye sensitized solar cell based on nanostructured Fe2O3. Mater Lett 105:106–109
Lee HJ, Yum JH, Leventis HC et al (2008) CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells exceeding efficiency 1% at full-sun intensity. J Phys Chem C 112:11600–11608
Chen J, Song JL, Sun XW et al (2009) An oleic acid-capped CdSe quantum-dot sensitized solar cell. Appl Phys Lett 94:153115
Cheng L, Hou Y, Zhang B et al (2013) Hydrogen-treated commercial WO3 as an efficient electrocatalyst for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem Commun (Camb) 49:5945–5947
Zheng H, Tachibana Y, Kalantar-Zadeh K (2010) Dye-sensitized solar cells based on WO3. Langmuir 26:19148–19152
Smestad GP, Gratzel M (1998) Demonstrating electron transfer and nanotechnology: a natural dye-sensitized nanocrystalline. J Chem Educ 75:752
Umar A, Al-Hajry A, Hahn YB, Kim DH (2009) Rapid synthesis and dye-sensitized solar cell applications of hexagonal-shaped ZnO nanorods. Electrochim Acta 54:5358–5362
Cakir AC, Erten-Ela S (2012) Comparison between synthesis techniques to obtain ZnO nanorods and its effect on dye sensitized solar cells. Adv Powder Technol 23:655–660
Cai F, Wang J, Yuan Z, Duan Y (2012) Magnetic-field effect on dye-sensitized ZnO nanorods-based solar cells. J Power Sources 216:269–272
Gonzalez-Valls I, Lira-Cantu M (2010) Effect of testing conditions on the photovoltaic performance of ZnO-based dye sensitized solar cells. Phys Procedia 28–32
Chou C-S, Chou F-C, Ding Y-G, Wu P (2012) The effect of ZnO-coating on the performance of a dye-sensitized solar cell. Sol Energy 86:1435–1442
Sponza L, Goniakowski J, Noguera C (2015) Structural, electronic, and spectral properties of six ZnO bulk polymorphs. Phys Rev B Condens Matter Mater Phys 91(7):075126
Leitner J, Kamrádek M, Sedmidubský D (2013) Thermodynamic properties of rock-salt ZnO. Thermochim Acta 572:1–5
Xie Y, He Y, Irwin PL et al (2011) Antibacterial activity and mechanism of action of zinc oxide nanoparticles against Campylobacter jejuni. Appl Environ Microbiol 77:2325–2331
Ursaki VV, Tiginyanu IM, Zalamai VV et al (2004) Multiphonon resonant Raman scattering in ZnO crystals and nanostructured layers. Phys Rev B Condens Matter Mater Phys 70:155204
Calleja JM, Cardona M (1977) Resonant Raman scattering in ZnO. Phys Rev B 16:3753–3761
Kumar R, Kumar G, Umar A (2014) Zinc oxide nanomaterials for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange: a review. Nanosci Nanotechnol Lett 6:631–650
Fang X, Peng L, Shang X, Zhang Z (2011) Controlled synthesis of ZnO branched nanorod arrays by hierarchical solution growth and application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Thin Solid Films 519:6307–6312
Al-Hajry A, Umar A, Hahn YB, Kim DH (2009) Growth, properties and dye-sensitized solar cells-applications of ZnO nanorods grown by low-temperature solution process. Superlattices Microstruct 45:529–534
Ke L, Bin Dolmanan S, Shen L et al (2010) Degradation mechanism of ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 94:323–326
Lin LY, Yeh MH, Lee CP et al (2013) Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells with one-dimensional ZnO nanorods as electron collection centers in photoanodes. Electrochim Acta 88:421–428
Thambidurai M, Muthukumarasamy N, Velauthapillai D, Lee C (2013) Synthesis of garland like ZnO nanorods and their application in dye sensitized solar cells. Mater Lett 92:104–107
Huang QL, Fang L, Chen X, Saleem M (2011) Effect of polyethyleneimine on the growth of ZnO nanorod arrays and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 509:9456–9459
Thambidurai M, Muthukumarasamy N, Velauthapillai D, Lee C (2014) Rosa centifolia sensitized ZnO nanorods for photoelectrochemical solar cell applications. Sol Energy 106:143–150
Raja M, Muthukumarasamy N, Velauthapillai D et al (2014) Studies on bundle like ZnO nanorods for solar cell applications. Sol Energy 106:129–135
Meng Y, Lin Y, Lin Y (2014) Electrodeposition for the synthesis of ZnO nanorods modified by surface attachment with ZnO nanoparticles and their dye-sensitized solar cell applications. Ceram Int 40:1693–1698
Chae Y, Kim SJ, Kim JH, Kim E (2015) Metal-free organic-dye-based flexible dye-sensitized solar textiles with panchromatic effect. Dye Pigment 113:378–389
Fang X, Li Y, Zhang S et al (2014) The dye adsorption optimization of ZnO nanorod-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy 105:14–19
Song H, Jeong H, Song J et al (2014) Fabrication of glass-free photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by transfer method using ZnO nanorods sacrificial layer. Mater Lett 132:27–30
Yun W, Cho IS, Sohn S, Oh S (2012) Effects of heat treatment on the dye adsorption of ZnO nanorods for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Korean Phys Soc 61:1453–1456
Zhu S, Shan L, Tian X et al (2014) Hydrothermal synthesis of oriented ZnO nanorod-nanosheets hierarchical architecture on zinc foil as flexible photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Ceram Int 40:11663–11670
Pawar RC, Shaikh JS, Tarwal NL et al (2012) Surfactant mediated growth of ZnO nanostructures and their dye sensitized solar cell properties. J Mater Sci Mater Electron 23:349–355
Wang CX, Zhang XD, Wang DF et al (2010) Synthesis of nanostructural ZnO using hydrothermal method for dye-sensitized solar cells. Sci China Technol Sci 53:1146–1149
Sudhagar P, Kumar RS, Jung JH et al (2011) Facile synthesis of highly branched jacks-like ZnO nanorods and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells. Mater Res Bull 46:1473–1479
Chung J, Lee J, Lim S (2010) Annealing effects of ZnO nanorods on dye-sensitized solar cell efficiency. Phys B Condens Matter 405:2593–2598
Chen W, Zhang H, Hsing IM, Yang S (2009) A new photoanode architecture of dye sensitized solar cell based on ZnO nanotetrapods with no need for calcination. Electrochem Commun 11:1057–1060
Jana A, Das PP, Agarkar SA, Sujatha Devi P (2014) A comparative study on the dye sensitized solar cell performance of solution processed ZnO. Sol Energy 102:143–151
Xi Y, Wu WZ, Fang H, Hu CG (2012) Integrated ZnO nanotube arrays as efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 529:163–168
Liu Z, Liu C, Ya J, Lei E (2011) Controlled synthesis of ZnO and TiO2 nanotubes by chemical method and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Renew Energy 36:1177–1181
Ameen S, Akhtar MS, Kim YS et al (2011) Influence of seed layer treatment on low temperature grown ZnO nanotubes: performances in dye sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 56:1111–1116
Chen L, Li X, Qu L et al (2014) Facile and fast one-pot synthesis of ultra-long porous ZnO nanowire arrays for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 586:766–772
Lupan O, Guérin VM, Tiginyanu IM et al (2010) Well-aligned arrays of vertically oriented ZnO nanowires electrodeposited on ITO-coated glass and their integration in dye sensitized solar cells. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 211:65–73
Guérin VM, Rathousky J, Pauporté T (2012) Electrochemical design of ZnO hierarchical structures for dye-sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 102:8–14
Qin Z, Zhang G, Liao Q et al (2012) Influences of low temperature thermal treatment on ZnO nanowire arrays and nanoparticles based flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem Eng Asp 402:127–131
Fu YS, Sun J, Xie Y et al (2010) ZnO hierarchical nanostructures and application on high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells. Mater Sci Eng B Solid-State Mater Adv Technol 166:196–202
Kim YT, Park J, Kim S et al (2012) Fabrication of hierarchical ZnO nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 78:417–421
Tian Y, Hu C, Wu Q et al (2011) Investigation of the fill factor of dye-sensitized solar cell based on ZnO nanowire arrays. Appl Surf Sci 258:321–326
Nayeri FD, Soleimani EA, Salehi F (2013) Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanowires grown on different seed layers: the application for dye-sensitized solar cells. Renew Energy 60:246–255
Suh DI, Lee SY, Kim TH et al (2007) The fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells with a branched structure of ZnO nanowires. Chem Phys Lett 442:348–353
Li S, Zhang X, Jiao X, Lin H (2011) One-step large-scale synthesis of porous ZnO nanofibers and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Mater Lett 65:2975–2978
Zhu S, Chen X, Zuo F et al (2013) Controllable synthesis of ZnO nanograss with different morphologies and enhanced performance in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Solid State Chem 197:69–74
Gao R, Liang Z, Tian J et al (2013) ZnO nanocrystallite aggregates synthesized through interface precipitation for dye-sensitized solar cells. Nano Energy 2:40–48
Guo H, He X, Hu C et al (2014) Effect of particle size in aggregates of ZnO-aggregate-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 120:23–29
Jia W, Dang S, Liu H et al (2013) Submicrometer-scale ZnO composite aggregate arrays photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci Technol 29:415–418
Zheng YZ, Ding H, Liu Y et al (2014) In situ hydrothermal growth of hierarchical ZnO nanourchin for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells. J Power Sources 254:153–160
Liu Z, Li Y, Liu C et al (2011) Performance of ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells with various nanostructures as anodes. Solid State Sci 13:1354–1359
Bu IYY, Cole MT (2013) One-pot synthesis of intercalating ZnO nanoparticles for enhanced dye-sensitized solar cells. Mater Lett 90:56–59
Lu LL, Li RJ, Fan K, Peng TY (2010) Effects of annealing conditions on the photoelectrochemical properties of dye-sensitized solar cells made with ZnO nanoparticles. Sol Energy 84:844–853
Li H, Bai J, Feng B et al (2013) Dye-sensitized solar cells with a tri-layer ZnO photo-electrode. J Alloys Compd 578:507–511
Rani S, Suri P, Shishodia PK, Mehra RM (2008) Synthesis of nanocrystalline ZnO powder via sol-gel route for dye-sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 92:1639–1645
Al-Kahlout A (2015) Thermal treatment optimization of ZnO nanoparticles-photoelectrodes for high photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. J Assoc Arab Univ Basic Appl Sci 17:66–72
Devabharathi V, Palanisamy KL, Meenakshi Sundaram N (2014) Influence of pH on the performance of ZnO nanocrystal based dye sensitized solar cells. Superlattices Microstruct 75:99–104
Patra AK, Dutta A, Bhaumik A (2014) Self-assembled ultra small ZnO nanocrystals for dye-sensitized solar cell application. J Solid State Chem 215:135–142
Xu J, Fan K, Shi W et al (2014) Application of ZnO micro-flowers as scattering layer for ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells with enhanced conversion efficiency. Sol Energy 101:150–159
Umar A, Akhtar MS, Al-Hajry A et al (2012) Hydrothermally grown ZnO nanoflowers for environmental remediation and clean energy applications. Mater Res Bull 47:2407–2414
Dunkel C, Wark M, Oekermann T et al (2013) Electrodeposition of zinc oxide on transparent conducting metal oxide nanofibers and its performance in dye sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 90:375–381
Parthiban R, Balamurugan D, Jeyaprakash BG (2015) Dye-sensitized solar cell based on spray deposited ZnO thin film: performance analysis through DFT approach. Spectrochim Acta Part A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 136:986–992
Lin Y, Yang J, Meng Y (2013) Nanostructured ZnO thin films by SDS-assisted electrodeposition for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. Ceram Int 39:5049–5052
Kushwaha S, Bahadur L (2011) Characterization of some metal-free organic dyes as photosensitizer for nanocrystalline ZnO-based dye sensitized solar cells. Int J Hydrogen Energy 36:11620–11627
Zi M, Zhu M, Chen L et al (2014) ZnO photoanodes with different morphologies grown by electrochemical deposition and their dye-sensitized solar cell properties. Ceram Int 40:7965–7970
Suresh S, Pandikumar A, Murugesan S et al (2011) Photovoltaic performance of solid-state solar cells based on ZnO nanosheets sensitized with low-cost metal-free organic dye. Sol Energy 85:1787–1793
Navaneethan M, Archana J, Arivanandhan M, Hayakawa Y (2012) Functional properties of amine-passivated ZnO nanostructures and dye-sensitized solar cell characteristics. Chem Eng J 213:70–77
Baviskar P, Gore R, Ennaoui A, Sankapal B (2014) Cactus architecture of ZnO nanoparticles network through simple wet chemistry: efficient dye sensitized solar cells. Mater Lett 116:91–93
Giannouli M, Spiliopoulou F (2012) Effects of the morphology of nanostructured ZnO films on the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Renew Energy 41:115–122
Deng J, Zheng YZ, Hou Q et al (2011) Solid-state dye-sensitized hierarchically structured ZnO solar cells. Electrochim Acta 56:4176–4180
Mou J, Zhang W, Fan J et al (2011) Facile synthesis of ZnO nanobullets/nanoflakes and their applications to dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 509:961–965
Umar A (2009) Growth of comb-like ZnO nanostructures for Dye-sensitized solar cells applications. Nanoscale Res Lett 4:1004–1008
Rouhi J, Mamat MH, Ooi CHR et al (2015) High-performance dye-sensitized solar cells based on morphology-controllable synthesis of ZnO–ZnS heterostructure nanocone photoanodes. PLoS ONE 10:e0123433. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0123433
Shimpi P, Gao P-X, Goberman DG, Ding Y (2009) Low temperature synthesis and characterization of MgO/ZnO composite nanowire arrays. Nanotechnology 20:125608
Wrobel G, Piech M, Gao P-X, Dardona S (2012) Direct synthesis of ZnO nanorod field emitters on metal electrodes. Cryst Growth Des 12:5051–5055
Vayssieres L (2003) Growth of arrayed nanorods and nanowires of ZnO from aqueous solutions. Adv Mater 15:464–466
Greene LE, Law M, Goldberger J et al (2003) Low-temperature wafer-scale production of ZnO nanowire arrays. Angew Chem Int Ed 42:3031–3034
Tan Y, Xue X, Peng Q et al (2007) Controllable fabrication and electrical performance of single crystalline Cu2O nanowires with high aspect ratios. Nano Lett 7:3723–3728
Greene LE, Yuhas BD, Law M et al (2006) Solution-grown zinc oxide nanowires. Inorg Chem 45:7535–7543
Baek SH, Noh BY, Shin JK, Kim JH (2012) Optical and photovoltaic properties of silicon wire solar cells with controlled ZnO nanorods antireflection coating. J Mater Sci 47:4138–4145. doi:10.1007/s10853-012-6268-7
Xiang F, Jianning D, Ningyi Y et al (2013) Morphology controlled synthesis of ZnO nanostructures on different substrates. Curr Nanosci 9:341–345
Sounart TL, Liu J, Voigt JA et al (2007) Secondary nucleation and growth of ZnO. J Am Chem Soc 129:15786–15793
Kim BH, Kim MS, Park KT et al (2003) Characteristics and field emission of conducting poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanowires. Appl Phys Lett 83:539–541
Law M, Greene LE, Johnson JC et al (2005) Nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells. Nat Mater 4:455–459
Hu X, Masuda Y, Ohji T, Kato K (2009) Polyethylenimine-guided self-twin zinc oxide nanoarray assemblies. Cryst Growth Des 9:3598–3602
Joo J, Chow BY, Prakash M et al (2011) Face-selective electrostatic control of hydrothermal zinc oxide nanowire synthesis. Nat Mater 10:596–601
Kwok WM, Djurišić AB, Leung YH et al (2006) Influence of annealing on stimulated emission in ZnO nanorods. Appl Phys Lett 89:183112
Maiti UN, Nandy S, Karan S et al (2008) Enhanced optical and field emission properties of CTAB-assisted hydrothermal grown ZnO nanorods. Appl Surf Sci 254:7266–7271
Sun XM, Chen X, Deng ZX, Li YD (2003) A CTAB-assisted hydrothermal orientation growth of ZnO nanorods. Mater Chem Phys 78:99–104
Elias J, Tena-Zaera R, Wang GY, Lévy-Clément C (2008) Conversion of ZnO nanowires into nanotubes with tailored dimensions. Chem Mater 20:6633–6637
Vayssieres L, Beermann N, Lindquist SE, Hagfeldt A (2001) Controlled aqueous chemical growth of oriented three-dimensional crystalline nanorod arrays: application to iron(III) oxides. Chem Mater 13:233–235
Xi Y, Song J, Xu S et al (2009) Growth of ZnO nanotube arrays and nanotube based piezoelectric nanogenerators. J Mater Chem 19:9260
Xu S, Adiga N, Ba S et al (2009) Optimizing and improving the growth quality of ZnO nanowire arrays guided by statistical design of experiments. ACS Nano 3:1803–1812
Xu C, Wu J, Desai UV, Gao D (2012) High-efficiency solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells based on TiO(2)-coated ZnO nanowire arrays. Nano Lett 12:2420–2424
Chen L-Y, Yin Y-T (2013) Hierarchically assembled ZnO nanoparticles on high diffusion coefficient ZnO nanowire arrays for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells. Nanoscale 5:1777–1780
Ling T, Song JG, Chen XY et al (2013) Comparison of ZnO and TiO2 nanowires for photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 546:307–313
Hoang S, Gao P (2016) Nanowire array structures for photocatalytic energy conversion and utilization: a review of design concepts, assembly and integration, and function enabling. Adv Energy Mater 2016:1600683
Demes T, Ternon C, Riassetto D et al (2016) Comprehensive study of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanowires. J Mater Sci 51:10652–10661. doi:10.1007/s10853-016-0287-8
Gao Y, Nagai M, Chang TC, Shyue JJ (2007) Solution-derived ZnO nanowire array film as photoelectrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. Cryst Growth Des 7:2467–2471
Cho JW, Lee CS, Il Lee K et al (2012) Morphology and electrical properties of high aspect ratio ZnO nanowires grown by hydrothermal method without repeated batch process. Appl Phys Lett 101:083905
Xu CK, Shin P, Cao LL, Gao D (2010) Preferential growth of long ZnO nanowire array and its application in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 114:125–129
Qiu J, Li X, Zhuge F et al (2010) Solution-derived 40 microm vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays as photoelectrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Nanotechnology 21:195602
Chen L-Y, Yin Y-T (2012) Facile continuous flow injection process for high quality long ZnO nanowire arrays synthesis. Cryst Growth Des 12:1055–1059
Wang L, Tsan D, Stoeber B, Walus K (2012) Substrate-free fabrication of self-supporting ZnO nanowire arrays. Adv Mater 24:3999–4004
Wang Z, Qian X-F, Yin J, Zhu Z-K (2004) Large-scale fabrication of tower-like, flower-like, and tube-like ZnO arrays by a simple chemical solution route. Langmuir 20:3441–3448
Dick KA, Deppert K, Mårtensson T et al (2004) Growth of GaP nanotree structures by sequential seeding of 1D nanowires. J Cryst Growth 272:131–137
Wang D, Qian F, Yang C et al (2004) Rational growth of branched and hyperbranched nanowire structures. Nano Lett 4:871–874
Baxter JB, Aydil ES (2006) Dye-sensitized solar cells based on semiconductor morphologies with ZnO nanowires. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 90:607–622
Guo M, Diao P, Wang X, Cai S (2005) The effect of hydrothermal growth temperature on preparation and photoelectrochemical performance of ZnO nanorod array films. J Solid State Chem 178:3210–3215
Galoppini E, Rochford J, Chen H et al (2006) Fast electron transport in metal organic vapor deposition grown dye-sensitized ZnO nanorod solar cells. J Phys Chem B 110:16159–16161
Zhang Q, Chou TP, Russo B et al (2008) Polydisperse aggregates of ZnO nanocrystallites: a method for energy-conversion-efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells. Adv Funct Mater 18:1654–1660
Zhang Q, Park K, Xi J et al (2011) Recent progress in dye-sensitized solar cells using nanocrystallite aggregates. Adv Energy Mater 1:988–1001
Kanmani S, Ramachandran K (2013) Role of aqueous ammonia on the growth of ZnO nanostructures and its influence on solid-state dye sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci 48:2076–2091. doi:10.1007/s10853-012-6981-2
Chou TP, Zhang Q, Fryxell GE, Cao GZ (2007) hierarchically structured ZnO film for dye-sensitized solar cells with enhanced energy conversion efficiency. Adv Mater 19:2588–2592
Wang M, Anghel AM, Marsan B et al (2009) CoS supersedes Pt as efficient electrocatalyst for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 131:15976–15977
Hod I, González-Pedro V, Tachan Z et al (2011) Dye versus quantum dots in sensitized solar cells: participation of quantum dot absorber in the recombination process. J Phys Chem Lett 2:3032–3035
Tian J, Cao G (2013) Semiconductor quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. Nano Rev 4:1–8
Zheng L, Sun X, Chen L et al (2016) One-step in situ growth of Co9S8 on conductive substrate as an efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci 51:4150–4159. doi:10.1007/s10853-016-9738-5
Tan Z, Zhao B, Shen P et al (2011) Low-cost quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells based on a metal-free organic dye and a carbon aerogel counter electrode. J Mater Sci 46:7482–7488. doi:10.1007/s10853-011-5718-y
Singh S, Raj T, Singh A, Kaur N (2016) Optoelectronic and photovoltaic performances of pyridine based monomer and polymer capped ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 16:5975–5983
Lee C-P, Li C-T, Fan M-S et al (2016) Microemulsion-assisted zinc oxide synthesis: morphology control and its applications in photoanodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 210:483–491
Lee CP, Chen PW, Li CT et al (2016) ZnO double layer film with a novel organic sensitizer as an efficient photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Power Sources 325:209–219
Hu W, Yu P, Zhang Z et al (2017) Theoretical study of YD2-o-C8-based derivatives as promising sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci 52(3):1235–1245. doi:10.1007/s10853-016-0364-z
Selopal GS, Wu H-P, Lu J et al (2016) Metal-free organic dyes for TiO2 and ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells. Sci Rep 6:18756
Wang S, Sina M, Parikh P et al (2016) Role of 4-tert-Butylpyridine as a hole transport layer morphological controller in perovskite solar cells. Nano Lett 16(9):5594–5600. doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b02158
Hardin BE, Snaith HJ, McGehee MD (2012) The renaissance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Nat Photonics 6:162–169
Wang M, Chamberland N, Breau L et al (2010) An organic redox electrolyte to rival triiodide/iodide in dye-sensitized solar cells. Nat Chem 2:385–389
Fan J, Hao Y, Cabot A et al (2013) Cobalt(II/III) redox electrolyte in ZnO nanowire-based dye-sensitized solar cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 5:1902–1906
Kashif MK, Nippe M, Duffy NW et al (2013) Stable dye-sensitized solar cell electrolytes based on cobalt(ii)/(iii) complexes of a hexadentate pyridyl ligand. Angew Chemie Int Ed 52:5527–5531
Tétreault N, Grätzel M (2012) Novel nanostructures for next generation dye-sensitized solar cells. Energy Environ Sci 5:8506
Zhang Z, Chen P, Murakami TN et al (2008) The 2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy radical: an efficient, iodine- free redox mediator for dye-sensitized solar cells. Adv Funct Mater 18:341–346
Yao Z, Zhang M, Wu H et al (2015) Donor/acceptor indenoperylene dye for highly efficient organic dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 137:3799–3802
Teng C, Yang X, Yuan C et al (2009) Two novel carbazole dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells with open-circuit voltages up to 1 v based on Br−/Br3 − electrolytes. Org Lett 11:5542–5545
Oskam G, Bergeron BV, Meyer GJ, Searson PC (2001) Pseudohalogens for dye-sensitized TiO2 photoelectrochemical cells. J Phys Chem B 105:6867–6873
Wang P, Zakeeruddin SM, Moser JE et al (2004) A solvent-free, SeCN−/(SeCN) −3 based ionic liquid electrolyte for high-efficiency dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 126:7164–7165
Jose R, Thavasi V, Ramakrishna S (2009) Metal oxides for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Ceram Soc 92:289–301
Sze SM, Lee M-K (2002) Semiconductor devices: physics and technology, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Harrington DA, Van Den Driessche P (2011) Mechanism and equivalent circuits in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Electrochim Acta 56:8005–8013
Kern R, Sastrawan R, Ferber J et al (2002) Modeling and interpretation of electrical impedance spectra of dye solar cells operated under open-circuit conditions. Electrochim Acta 47:4213–4225
Grätzel M (2003) Dye-sensitized solar cells. J Photochem Photobiol C Photochem Rev 4:145–153
Wang Q, Moser J-E, Grätzel M (2005) Electrochemical impedance spectroscopic analysis of dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem B 109:14945–14953
Pajkossy T (1994) Impedance of rough capacitive electrodes. J Electroanal Chem 364:111–125
Anta JA, Guillén E, Tena-Zaera R (2012) ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 116:11413–11425
Lizama-Tzec FI, Garcia-Rodriguez R, Rodriguez-Gattorno G et al (2016) Influence of morphology on the performance of ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells. RSC Adv 6:37424–37433
Tricoli A, Nasiri N, Chen H et al (2016) Ultra-rapid synthesis of highly porous and robust hierarchical ZnO films for dye sensitized solar cells. Sol Energy 136:553–559
Sutthana S, Wongratanaphisan D, Gardchareon A et al (2015) Enhancement of ZnO dye-sensitized solar cell performance by modifying photoelectrode using two-steps coating-etching process. Energy Procedia 79:1021–1026
Sutthana S, Wongratanaphisan D Gardchareon, Phadungdhitidhada A, Ruankham S, Choopun P (2016) Enhancement of ZnO dye-sensitized solar cell performance by modifying photoelectrodes using an acid vapor texturing process. Surf Coat Technol 306:30–34
Chang R, Ithisuphalap K, Kretzschmar I (2016) Impact of particle shape on electron transport and lifetime in zinc oxide nanorod-based dye-sensitized solar cells. AIMS Mater Sci 3:51–65
Tao P, Guo W, Du J et al (2016) Continuous wet-process growth of ZnO nanoarrays for wire-shaped photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cell. J Colloid Interface Sci 478:172–180
Chen HS, Yu WC, Chang WC, Lu YW (2016) Olive-shaped ZnO nanocrystallite aggregates as bifunctional light scattering materials in double-layer photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 187:655–661
Kang X, Jia C, Wan Z et al (2015) A novel tri-layered photoanode of hierarchical ZnO microspheres on 1D ZnO nanowire arrays for dye-sensitized solar cells. Rsc Adv 5:16678–16683
Chanta E, Wongratanaphisan D, Gardchareon A et al (2015) Effect of ZnO double layer as anti-reflection coating layer in ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells. Energy Procedia 79:879–884
Hu J, Xie Y, Bai T et al (2015) A novel triple-layer zinc oxide/carbon nanotube architecture for dye-sensitized solar cells with excellent power conversion efficiency. J Power Sources 286:175–181
Choudhury MSH, Kishi N, Soga T (2016) Compression of ZnO nanoparticle films at elevated temperature for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloys Compd 656:476–480
Marimuthu T, Anandhan N, Thangamuthu R et al (2016) Synthesis of ZnO nanowire arrays on ZnO–TiO2 mixed oxide seed layer for dye sensitized solar cell applications. J Alloys Compd 677:211–218
Ito S, Murakami TN, Comte P et al (2008) Fabrication of thin film dye sensitized solar cells with solar to electric power conversion efficiency over 10%. Thin Solid Films 516:4613–4619
Žídek K, Zheng K, Ponseca CS et al (2012) Electron transfer in quantum-dot-sensitized ZnO nanowires: ultrafast time-resolved absorption and terahertz study. J Am Chem Soc 134:12110–12117
Lu MY, Tsai CY, Chen HA et al (2016) Plasmonic enhancement of Au nanoparticle-embedded single-crystalline ZnO nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells. Nano Energy 20:264–271
Chen ZH, Tang YB, Liu CP et al (2009) Vertically aligned ZnO nanorod arrays sentisized with gold nanoparticles for schottky barrier photovoltaic cells. J Phys Chem C 113:13433–13437
Wijeratne K, Akilavasan J, Alamoud A, Bandara J (2015) Characterizing the role of Li ion insertion into ZnO nanostructures in improving photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Trans Electron Opt 1:8–13
Kawawaki T, Wang H, Kubo T et al (2015) Efficiency enhancement of PbS quantum Dot/ZnO nanowire bulk-heterojunction solar cells by plasmonic silver nanocubes. ACS Nano 9:4165–4172
Tripathi SK, Rani M, Singh N (2015) ZnO: Ag and TZO: Ag plasmonic nanocomposite for enhanced dye sensitized solar cell performance. Electrochim Acta 167:179–186
Yang Q, Duan J, Yang P, Tang Q (2016) Counter electrodes from platinum alloy nanotube arrays with ZnO nanorod templates for dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 190:648–654
Listorti A, O’Regan B, Durrant JR (2011) Electron transfer dynamics in dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem Mater 23:3381–3399
Morandeira A, López-Duarte I, Martínez-Díaz MV et al (2007) Slow electron injection on Ru-phthalocyanine sensitized TiO2. J Am Chem Soc 129:9250–9251
Hu B, Yan L, Shao M (2009) Magnetic-field effects in organic semiconducting materials and devices. Adv Mater 21:1500–1516
Park K, Zhang Q, Garcia BB, Cao G (2011) Effect of annealing temperature on TiO2–ZnO core–shell aggregate photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 115:4927–4934
Wu D, Gao Z, Xu F et al (2013) Hierarchical ZnO aggregates assembled by orderly aligned nanorods for dye-sensitized solar cells. CrystEngComm 15:1210–1217
Hu Y, Yan X, Gu Y et al (2015) Large-scale patterned ZnO nanorod arrays for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting. Appl Surf Sci 339:122–127
Jézéquel D, Guenot J, Jouini N, Fiévet F (1995) Submicrometer zinc oxide particles: elaboration in polyol medium and morphological characteristics. J Mater Res 10:77–83
Zhang Q, Chou TP, Russo B et al (2008) Aggregation of ZnO nanocrystallites for high conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells. Angew Chemie Int Ed 47:2402–2406
Huang L, Jiang L, Wei M (2010) Metal-free indoline dye sensitized solar cells based on nanocrystalline Zn2SnO4. Electrochem Commun 12:319–322
Matsui M, Ito A, Kotani M et al (2009) The use of indoline dyes in a zinc oxide dye-sensitized solar cell. Dye Pigment 80:233–238
Chen G, Zheng K, Mo X et al (2010) Metal-free indoline dye sensitized zinc oxide nanowires solar cell. Mater Lett 64:1336–1339
Sakuragi Y, Wang XF, Miura H et al (2010) Aggregation of indoline dyes as sensitizers for ZnO solar cells. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 216:1–7
Jose R, Kumar A, Thavasi V et al (2008) Relationship between the molecular orbital structure of the dyes and photocurrent density in the dye-sensitized solar cells. Appl Phys Lett 93:023125
Liu X, Wang G, Ng A et al (2015) Towards low temperature processed ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells. Appl Surf Sci 357:2169–2175
Funding sources
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, R., Umar, A., Kumar, G. et al. Zinc oxide nanostructure-based dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci 52, 4743–4795 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0668-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0668-z