Improvement of the performance of dye sensitized solar cell using ZnO nanorods array deposited with Ag nanoparticles as photoanode

Well-aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) arrays deposited with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) are prepared by a liquid phase epitaxial growth process followed by a reduction of Ag on the surface of the ZnO NRs. Transmission electron microscopy images show that most Ag NPs are deposited on the upper part of the ZnO NRs, and the overall optical absorption in the range of visible light can be enhanced due to the surface plasmon resonance of the Ag NPs. ZnO NRs with and without Ag NPs are used to assemble dye sensitized solar cells. Devices fabricated from the Ag NPs/ZnO NRs composite arrays exhibit a higher open voltage, short circuit current and fill factor than that fabricated from the bare ZnO NRs array, thus, the overall efficiency of the as-fabricated cell is increased from less than 0.5 % to 0.8 %. The main reason for the enhancement of the device performance may be ascribed to that the electron transfer back from ZnO to the dye and electrolyte is blocked by the Schottky barrier at the Ag/ZnO interface, resulting in a great increase of the electron density at the ZnO conduction band.