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Zinc Oxide–Titania Heterojunction‐based Solid Nanospheres as Photoanodes for Electron‐Trapping in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Shejale Kiran P.,
Laishram Devika,
Gupta Ritu,
Sharma Rakesh K.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201600357
Subject(s) - materials science , photocurrent , heterojunction , mesoporous material , nanotechnology , solar cell , dye sensitized solar cell , nanostructure , photocatalysis , oxide , doping , hybrid solar cell , chemical engineering , optoelectronics , polymer solar cell , chemistry , electrolyte , electrode , biochemistry , catalysis , engineering , metallurgy
Agile nanostructure architectures and smart combinations of semiconducting metal oxide materials are key features of high‐performing dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, we synthesize mesoporous solid nanospheres of ZnO–TiO 2 with type‐II heterojunction and use these as an efficient photoanode material for excellent photoconversion. These polydisperse aggregates doped with 1 %, 5 %, and 10 % of ZnO exhibit improved solar cell performance with respect to pristine TiO 2 under AM 1.5 G. The 1 % ZnO doped TiO 2 nanosphere possess high specific surface area (84.23 m 2 g −1 ) as a photoanode and shows high photoconversion efficiency of about 8.07 % with ca. 18 % improvement in the photocurrent density ( J sc ) compare to TiO 2 nanosphere. The improved solar cell performance (Δ η =40 %) of ZnO decorated TiO 2 nanospheres is ascribed to type‐II heterojunction of ZnO–TiO 2 , that reduces the electron recombination and synergistically enhances the electron mobility and charge collection capability.