Issue 6, 2010
From the journal:

Energy & Environmental Science

Dye sensitized solar cells based on vertically-aligned ZnOnanorods: effect of UV light on power conversion efficiency and lifetime†

Irene Gonzalez-Vallsa  and  Monica Lira-Cantu*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Centre d’Investigació en Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (CSIC-ICN), Campus UAB edifici Q, 2nd floor, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: monica.lira@cin2.es
Tel: +34 935868011

Abstract

Electrodes made of vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) have been prepared and analyzed in dye sensitized solar cells (DSC). We report a ∼20% power conversion efficiency increase during the first hours of solar cell testing at 1000 W m−2 (AM 1.5). The latter has been attributed to the physisorption/chemisorption of the N-719 dye on the ZnO NRs induced by UV-light irradiation. The ZnO NRs were grown by the hydrothermal method for 6 h obtaining a ZnO layer thickness of about 1.8 μm. The highest solar cell efficiency obtained was 0.69% after UV light irradiation (at 72 °C, 0.63 V, 2.85 mA cm−2, 0.39 FF). The effect of UV light has been monitored by UV-VIS, IV-curves and IPCE analyses with time, and has been related to the solar cell performance.

Graphical abstract: Dye sensitized solar cells based on vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods: effect of UV light on power conversion efficiency and lifetime

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B922354A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Oct 2009
Accepted
10 Mar 2010
First published
27 Apr 2010

Energy Environ. Sci., 2010,3, 789-795

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Dye sensitized solar cells based on vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods: effect of UV light on power conversion efficiency and lifetime

I. Gonzalez-Valls and M. Lira-Cantu, Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 789 DOI: 10.1039/B922354A

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