AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Energy Frontiers Focus Topic Tuesday Sessions
       Session EN-TuP

Paper EN-TuP3
Fabrication and Characteristics of ZnO Nanowire-based DSSCs with Core-Shell Layers

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 6:00 pm, Room Hall B

Session: Energy Frontiers Poster Session
Presenter: E.C. Choi, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Authors: E.C. Choi, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
B. Hong, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Y. Seo, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
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Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been widely investigated as a next-generation solar cell because of their simple structure and low manufacturing cost. The TiO2 film, which consists of nano-particles, acts as both a scaffold with a high surface-to-volume ratio for the dye loading and a pathway to remove the electrons. However, charge carriers have to move across many particle boundaries by a hopping mechanism. So, one dimensional nano-structures such as nanotubes, nanorods and nanowires should improve charge carrier transportation by providing a facile direct electron pathway and lowering the diffusion resistance. Recently, ZnO nanowire-based DSSCs have great attractions due to higher electron mobility than TiO2, potentially allowing for faster kinetics and fewer recombinations. However, the highest efficiencies of ZnO nanowire-based DSSCs are less than 2 %. It has been known that ZnO nanowire-based DSSCs have suffered from low efficiencies through a combination of low level of dye adsorption (due to the thinness of the active layer), defect states and the formation of excessive Zn2+/dye agglomerates. According to the our previous researches, it is considered that the ZnO nanowire-based DSSC performance could be improved through longer and well aligned nanowire arrays on the substrate and electrodes with core-shell structures. In this work, ZnO nanowire arrays were synthesized by hydrothermal method in aqueous solution of zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O) and hexamethylenetetramine (C6H12N4). Properties of core-shell strucutres were investigated by various analysis method such as X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and UV-visible spectrophotometer. It was confined that the conversion efficiency of ZnO nanowire-based DSSCs depended of the nanowire properties.