Photovoltaic Performance of ZnO Nanosheets Solar Cell Sensitized with Beta-Substituted Porphyrin

Abstract EN

The photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was fabricated using two-dimensional ZnO nanosheets (2D ZnO NSs) sensitized with beta-substituted porphyrins photosensitizer, and its photovoltaic performance in solid-state DSSC with TiO2 nanotubes (TiO2 TNs) modified poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) polymer electrolyte was studied.

The ZnO NSs were synthesized through hydrothermal method and were characterized through high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), diffused reflectance spectra (DRS), photoluminescence spectra (PL), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis.

The crystallinity of the polymer electrolytes was investigated using X-ray diffraction analysis.

The photovoltaic performance of the beta-substituted porphyrins sensitized solar cells was evaluated under standard AM1.5G simulated illumination (100 mW cm−2).

The efficiency of energy conversion from solar to electrical due to 2D ZnO NSs based DSSCs is 0.13%, which is about 1.6 times higher than that of the control DSSC using ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) as photoanode (0.08%), when TiO2 NTs fillers modified PEO electrolyte was incorporated in the DSSCs.

The current-voltage (I-V) and photocurrent-time (I-T) curves proved stable with effective collection of electrons, when the 2D ZnO nanostructured photoanode was introduced in the solid-state DSSC.