Journal
JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
Volume 49, Issue 6, Pages 3860-3868Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11664-020-08107-9
Keywords
ZnO nanowires; aluminium; thin film; DSSC
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Funding
- DHESTB, Govt. of West Bengal [ST/P/ST/4G-3/2017]
- DST-FIST [SR/FST/PSI-188/2013]
- Presidency University (FRPDF grant)
- UGC [F.PSW.-051/15-16]
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In this communication, we report on the synthesis of vertically aligned aluminium (Al)-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) nanowire (NW) thin films on FTO-coated glass substrates and their use as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Very thin Al layers (similar to 3 nm, similar to 6 nm and similar to 10 nm) were deposited onto chemically synthesized ZnO nanowire film by electron-beam evaporation. The films were then subjected to rapid thermal annealing to incorporate different amounts of Al (similar to 0.98 at.%, 1.94 at.% and similar to 2.89 at.%) into the ZnO nanowires. Optical, microstructural and compositional study of the films confirmed the growth of highly transparent and well-aligned ZnO:Al nanowires with a hexagonal crystal structure. The basic DSSC structure was fabricated using both undoped ZnO nanowire and ZnO:Al nanowire thin films as photoanode. In both cases, commercially available N3 dye was used as a photosensitizer, iodide/tri-iodide solution as electrolyte and FTO-coated glass as counter electrode. A significant increase in short-circuit current was observed, from 1.3 mA cm(-2) for the pristine ZnO nanowire film-based DSSC to 4.4 mA cm(-2) for the ZnO:Al (2.89 at.%) nanowire film-based DSSC. The overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) was also found to increase from 0.13% (for pristine ZnO nanowire thin film) to 0.49% for the ZnO:Al thin film-based DSSC.
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