4.8 Article

Novel Zn-Sn-O nanocactus with excellent transport properties as photoanode material for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

Journal

NANOSCALE
Volume 3, Issue 11, Pages 4640-4646

Publisher

ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c1nr11083g

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Funding

  1. National Research Foundation, Singapore

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A novel chemically stable Zn-Sn-O nanocactus structure has been synthesized for the first time using a hydrothermal method. The Zn-Sn-O nanocactus structure comprises a Zn poor-Zn2SnO4 plate and Zn-doped SnO2 nanothorns growing on the plate, both of which have high electron mobilities. The nanocactus is used as the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) for the Zn-Sn-O nanocactus film reaches 2.21%, which is twice the previous reported efficiency of pure SnO2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements show that the Zn-Sn-O nanocactus film has a good effective diffusion length and high intrinsic electron mobility. After TiCl4 treatment of the Zn-Sn-O nanocactus film, the current density increases nearly three times and the PCE increases to 6.62%, which compares favourably with the P25 DSSCs (6.97%) and is much higher than that of the SnO2 (1.04%) or Zn2SnO4 (3.7%)-based DSSCs.

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