ZnO/Nb₂O₅ core/shell nanorod array photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

In this paper, ZnO/Nb₂O₅ core/shell nanorod arrays were synthesized and used as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). We first synthesized ZnO nanorod array on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glasses by a hydrothermal method, and then ZnO/Nb₂O₅ core/shell nanorod array was directly obtained via solvothermal reaction in NbCl₅ solution. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images revealed that the ZnO nanorods were uniformly wrapped by Nb₂O₅ shell layers with a thickness of 30–40 nm. Photovoltaic characterization showed that the device based on ZnO/Nb₂O₅ core/shell nanorod photoanode exhibited an improved efficiency of 1.995%, which was much higher than the efficiency of 0.856% for the DSSC based on bare ZnO nanorod photoanode. This proved that the photovoltaic performance of ZnO nanorods could be improved by wrapping with Nb₂O₅ shells.

Keywords

ZnO / Nb₂O₅ / core/shell nanorods / solvothermal / dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11647073, 11547263) and the financial support from High Education Natural Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province (No. 15KJB430033).

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