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Zinc oxide precursor treatment for improving dye‐sensitized solar cell efficiency
Author(s) -
Liu Xiang,
Wang Gang,
Ng Annie,
Ng Yip Hang,
Chen Xinyi,
Leung Yu Hang,
Djurišić Aleksandra B.,
Ng Alan Man Ching,
Chan Wai Kin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201451338
Subject(s) - dye sensitized solar cell , zinc , zinc nitrate , energy conversion efficiency , materials science , photovoltaic system , annealing (glass) , chloride , inorganic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , electrode , chemistry , metallurgy , optoelectronics , ecology , biology , electrolyte
Unlike TiO 2 ‐based dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) where improvements in the efficiency with TiCl 4 treatments are well established, there are no known treatments to improve the efficiency of ZnO‐based DSSCs. Here we investigated treatments (solution‐based, followed by annealing) with different ZnO precursors (zinc acetate, zinc chloride, and zinc nitrate) on the properties of ZnO porous film and on the ZnO‐based DSSC performance. While zinc chloride and zinc acetate treatments do not improve DSSC performance, zinc nitrate treatment results in increased orange‐red defect emission of ZnO electrode, significant difference in the impedance characteristics, and improved photovoltaic performance from 2.07% to 2.35% with ∼12% increase in power conversion efficiency compared to untreated cells.