Preparation of ZnO nanoparticles and characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells based on nanoparticles film

ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrolization method and the effects of zinc nitrate concentration and reaction temperature on the resulted particle properties were studied. The transmission of the as-prepared and calcined films and their optical band gaps are measured and calculated respectively. Furthermore, as an application of the ZnO nanoparticles film, dye-sensitized solar cells based on it were successfully fabricated and the cell performances were characterized. The short circuit current for ZnO nanoparticles film DSSCs is 1.35 mA cm(-2), which indicates good value of the prepared film using this technique. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.