Electrospun Nanocomposite Ag-ZnO Nanofibrous Photoanode for Better Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

摘要

Electrospun nanocomposite Ag-ZnO nanofibers have been prepared by an electrospinning technique and characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. The prepared composite Ag-ZnO nanofibers were used as a photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) after pretreatment with TiCl4. Among the fabricated DSSCs, that using the nanocomposite Ag-ZnO nanofibers as the photoanode material showed higher power conversion efficiency of 5%, compared with the value of 3.19% when using pure ZnO nanofibers as the photoanode. The enhanced efficiency of this DSSC can be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon of the nanosize Ag particles on the surface of the ZnO nanofibers.