Morphological and electrical characterization of ZnO nanocomposites in dye-sensitized solar cells

International audienceZnO nanocomposites were fabricated as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. ZnO nanowires grown by catalyst-free metal-organic chemical vapor deposition were uniformly covered with ZnO nanoparticles by chemical bath deposition. ZnO nanocomposites exhibit the highest cell efficiency of 2.44% with a 16.7 mA/cm2 short circuit current density due to a higher specific surface area as compared to bare ZnO nanowires. The relatively low open circuit voltage of 0.48 V is associated with a significant decrease in the electron effective life time as shown by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements, pointing out the importance to control the interface quality in dye-sensitized solar cells