ZnO nanosheet-based hierarchical microarchitectures for enhanced conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells

摘要

Hierarchical ZnO microarchitectures have been fabricated on a large scale by a simple and economical citrate-mediated hydrothermal route for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These flowerlike architectures are constructed by many interleaving nanosheets which have ultrathin thickness of about 5 nm. Compared with the DSSCs based on other forms of nanostructures, such as ZnO nanorods and nanoparlicles, the DSSCs constructed by these hierarchical ZnO microarchitectures demonstrate a remarkable enhancement in photoelectric conversion efficiency. This enhanced performance is mainly due to the large surface area of the hierarchical microarchitectures for dye loading, and their special structural feature to ensure rapid transportation of electrons. Our results suggest that this new type of ZnO nanosheet-based microarchitectures is a promising material for application in DSSCs.