PREPARATION OF MESOPOROUS ZnO MICROSPHERES AND THEIR APPLICATION IN DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS

A novel ZnO photoanode with high specific surface area and good light scattering ability was fabricated for dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs). The photoanode comprised of mesoporous ZnO microspheres which were prepared by a solvothermal process. The structures and morphologies of ZnO microspheres were measured and confirmed by means of x-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), and multi-point Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET) analysis. ZnO microspheres are in sub-micrometer scale and have BET specific surface area of similar to 50m(2) . g(-1). Furthermore, a similar to 3 mu m thick photoanode made from ZnO microspheres results in a preliminary short-circuit current density (J(sc)) of similar to 4.5 mA . cm(-2) with an open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of similar to 602 mV and a conversion efficiency of 1.28% in DSSCs. All these suggest that mesoporous ZnO microspheres can be an alternative and feasible photoanode material for DSSCs.