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Fabrication of ZnO/SnO2 hierarchical structures as the composite photoanodes for efficient CdS/CdSe co-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

The composite photoanodes based on the ZnO/SnO2 hierarchical structures with high photoelectricity properties have been successfully synthesized, and used in the CdS and CdSe quantum dots co-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). In this experiment, the ZnO/SnO2 nanoparticles (ZS-NP) and hierarchical nanosheets-based microflowers (ZS-MF) were prepared by the one-step hydrothermal route and the morphologies of the products were controlled by the solvent variation. An improved power conversion efficiency of 4.98% was achieved for the cell based on the ZS-MF composite photoanodes, which showed an increase of 21.8% compared to the ZS-NP photoanodes (4.09%). This result is mainly connected to the unique superiority of the three-dimensional hierarchical microflower nanostructures for light scattering and quantum dots loading, which is responsible for the increase of photocurrent values and eventual PCE.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. JB—ZR1137).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Science and Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Environment-Friendly Functional Materials for Ministry of Education, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    Yibing Lin, Yu Lin, Jihuai Wu, Xiaolong Zhang & Biaopeng Fang

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  1. Yibing Lin
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  2. Yu Lin
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  3. Jihuai Wu
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  4. Xiaolong Zhang
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  5. Biaopeng Fang
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Correspondence to Yu Lin.

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Lin, Y., Lin, Y., Wu, J. et al. Fabrication of ZnO/SnO2 hierarchical structures as the composite photoanodes for efficient CdS/CdSe co-sensitized solar cells. Appl. Phys. A 123, 189 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-017-0841-5

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