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Nanosheet arrays of TiO2synthesized by one step conversion of ZnO nanosheets: Boosting of electron transport rate and application in dye solar cells

Alimirsalari, S ; Sharif University of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1039/c4ra07439d
  3. Abstract:
  4. A TiO2replica of ZnO nanosheet films is synthesized using a chemical replacement process. ZnO nanosheets are grown by electrodeposition on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) films, and a dissolution/deposition process is used to convert the ZnO template into a TiO2replica. Electron microscopy shows the final TiO2structure follows the morphology of the initial ZnO template. X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy verify the total transformation of ZnO to TiO2. The as-synthesized TiO2sheets are amorphous and after annealing turn into the anatase phase. The film of TiO2nanosheets is used as the photoanode of a dye sensitized solar cell. Despite the low roughness factor of 100, a conversion efficiency of 3.3% with D35 as sensitizer is achieved. The nanosheets show remarkably faster electron transport and longer electron lifetime compared to the conventional TiO2nanoparticle electrodes
  5. Keywords:
  6. Dye solar cells ; Electron transport rate ; Nanosheet arrays ; TiO ; ZnO nanosheets
  7. Source: RSC Advances ; Vol. 4, issue. 85 , 2014 , pp. 45174-45179 ; ISSN: 20462069
  8. URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/RA/C4RA07439D