Abstract
In this communication, we report on the synthesis of vertically aligned aluminium (Al)-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) nanowire (NW) thin films on FTO-coated glass substrates and their use as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Very thin Al layers (∼3 nm, ∼6 nm and ∼10 nm) were deposited onto chemically synthesized ZnO nanowire film by electron-beam evaporation. The films were then subjected to rapid thermal annealing to incorporate different amounts of Al (∼0.98 at.%, 1.94 at.% and ∼2.89 at.%) into the ZnO nanowires. Optical, microstructural and compositional study of the films confirmed the growth of highly transparent and well-aligned ZnO:Al nanowires with a hexagonal crystal structure. The basic DSSC structure was fabricated using both undoped ZnO nanowire and ZnO:Al nanowire thin films as photoanode. In both cases, commercially available N3 dye was used as a photosensitizer, iodide/tri-iodide solution as electrolyte and FTO-coated glass as counter electrode. A significant increase in short-circuit current was observed, from 1.3 mA cm−2 for the pristine ZnO nanowire film-based DSSC to 4.4 mA cm−2 for the ZnO:Al (2.89 at.%) nanowire film-based DSSC. The overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) was also found to increase from 0.13% (for pristine ZnO nanowire thin film) to 0.49% for the ZnO:Al thin film-based DSSC.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
L. Zhang, Y. Wang, H. Wu, M. Hou, J. Wang, L. Zhang, C. Liao, S. Liu, and Y. Wang, Nanoscale 11, 8319 (2019).
R. Yu, C. Pana, and Z.L. Wang, Energy Environ. Sci. 6, 494 (2013).
S. Fu, B. Zhang, H. Hu, Y. Zhang, and Y. Bi, Catal. Sci. Technol. 8, 2789 (2018).
X. Wang, J. Song, and Z.L. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. 17, 711 (2007).
S. Rackauskas, N. Barbero, C. Barolo, and G. Viscardi, in Nanowires-New Insights, ed. M. Khan (London: IntechOpen, 2017), pp. 60–78. https://doi.org/10.5772/67616.
M. Giannouli, K. Govatsi, G. Syrrokostas, S.N. Yannopoulos, and G. Leftheriotis, Materials 11, 1 (2018).
E. Tanaka, L. Nurdiwijayanto, M. Hagiwara, and S. Fujihara, J. Solid State Electrochem. 22, 1 (2018).
B. Kilic, S. Turkdogan, A. Astam, S.S. Baran, M. Asgin, E. Gur, and Y. Kocak, J. Nanopart. Res. 20, 1 (2018).
C. Karam, R. Habchl, S. Tingry, P. Miele, and M. Bechelany, ACS Appl. Nano. Mater. 1, 3750 (2018).
I. Iwantono, R. Yuda, S.K.Md. Saad, M.Y. Abd-Rahaman, and A.A. Umar, Superlattices Microstruct. 123, 119 (2018).
B. Kilic, L. Wang, O. Ozdemir, M. Lu, and S. Tüzemen, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 13, 333 (2013).
M.U. Rahman, M. Wei, F. Xie, and M. Khan, Catalysts 273, 1 (2019).
S. Zhuang, M. Lu, N. Zhou, L. Zhou, D. Lin, Z. Peng, and Q. Wu, Electrochim. Acta 294, 28 (2019).
N.A. Karim, U. Mehmood, H.F. Zahid, and T. Asif, Sol. Energy 185, 165 (2019).
T. Majumder, S. Dhar, P. Chakraborty, K. Debnath, and S.P. Mondal, NANO 14, 1 (2019).
R.N. Gayen, S. Dalui, A. Rajaram, and A.K. Pal, Appl. Surf. Sci. 255, 4902 (2009).
R.N. Gayen and S.R. Bhattacharyya, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 49, 1 (2016).
M. Ahmad, E. Ahmed, Y. Zhang, N.R. Khalid, J. Xu, M. Ullah, and Z. Hong, Curr. Appl. Phys. 13, 697 (2013).
G. Kaur, A. Mitra, and K.L. Yadav, Prog. Nat. Sci. Mater. Int. 25, 12 (2015).
T. Hurma, J. Mol. Struct. 1189, 1 (2019).
C. Wu, L. Shen, H. Yu, Q. Huang, and Y.C. Zhang, Mater. Res. Bull. 46, 1107 (2011).
S.R. Bhattacharyya, R.N. Gayen, R. Paul, and A.K. Pal, Thin Solid Films 517, 5530 (2009).
L. Cao, J.S. White, J.-S. Park, J.A. Schuller, B.M. Clemens, and M.L. Brongersma, Nat. Mater. 8, 643 (2009).
M.L. Brongersma, Y. Cui, and S. Fan, Nat. Mater. 13, 451 (2014).
H.U. Ulriksen, T. Sondergaard, T.G. Pedersen, and K. Pedersen, Opt. Express 27, 14308 (2019).
O.L. Muskens, J.G. Rivas, R.E. Algra, E.P.A.M. Bakkers, and A. Lagendijk, Nano Lett. 8, 2638 (2008).
S. Fabbiyola and L.J. Kennedy, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 19, 2963 (2019).
K.H. Ko, Y.C. Lee, and Y.J. Jung, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 283, 482 (2005).
M.H. Badr, A.A. El-Hamalawy, M.M. El-Kholy, and A. Ali, Int. J. Sci. Res. Rev. 6, 1 (2017).
M.R. Parra, P. Pandey, H. Siddiqui, V. Sudhakar, K. Krishnamoorthy, and F.Z. Haque, Appl. Surf. Sci. 470, 1130 (2019).
R. Tao, T. Tomita, R.A. Wong, and K. Waki, J. Power Sources 214, 159 (2012).
M. Ekmekci, C. Ela, and S. Erten-Ela, Appl. Ceram. Technol. 16, 727 (2019).
M.D. Tyona, R.U. Osuji, F.I. Ezema, S.B. Jambure, and C.D. Lokhande, Adv. Appl. Sci. Res. 7, 18 (2016).
W. Qin, S. Lu, X. Wu, and S. Wang, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 8, 7984 (2013).
S. Ni, F. Guo, D. Wang, S. Jiao, J. Wang, Y. Zhang, B. Wang, P. Feng, and L. Zhao, Crystals 9, 1 (2019).
R.N. Gayen and T. Chakrabarti, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 100, 1 (2019).
M.D. Tyona, S.B. Jambure, C.D. Lokhande, A.G. Banpurkar, R.U. Osuji, and F.I. Ezema, Mater. Lett. 220, 281 (2018).
J. Wang, Y. Ding, X. Chen, Z.Z. Zhang, and X. Shang, J. Chin. Ceram. Soc. 41, 1588 (2013).
P. Dhamodharan, C. Manoharan, M. Bououdina, R. Venkadachalapathy, and S. Ramalingam, Sol. Energy 141, 127 (2017).
Acknowledgments
RNG wishes to thank DHESTB, Govt. of West Bengal (File No. ST/P/S&T/4G-3/2017), Presidency University (FRPDF grant) and DST-FIST (SR/FST/UNCORRECTED PSI-188/2013) for financial support to carry out this work. SRB wishes to thank the UGC for granting an MRP (No. F.PSW.-051/15-16) under which a part of this work was carried out. The authors also acknowledge the help of Tanwistha Chakrabarti in carrying out this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bhattacharyya, S.R., Mallick, Z. & Gayen, R.N. Vertically Aligned Al-Doped ZnO Nanowire Arrays as Efficient Photoanode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. J. Electron. Mater. 49, 3860–3868 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08107-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08107-9