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Time-varied synthesis of hierarchical ZnO microspheres and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Hierarchically nano-structured ZnO microspheres have been synthesized solvothermally at variable reaction times (6, 12, 36, and 48 h) by using ethylene glycol as a solvent, zinc acetate as precursor, and hexamethylene triamine (HMT) as structure directing agent. The study also focused on the mechanism of time-dependant growth of hierarchical ZnO microspheres and their deployment in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as photoanode. Longer reaction times lead to formation of nearly spherical ZnO microspheres. The structural and morphological analysis reveals the formation of a wurtzite hexagonal crystalline structure having a microsphere-like morphology. ZnO hierarchical microspheres synthesized at different reaction times have been used as photoanode in DSSCs which show enhanced light-harvesting properties than the commercial ZnO powders. ZnO microspheres synthesized at 48 h show maximum current density and cell efficiency of 8.51 mA/cm2 and 3.31%, respectively. This enhancement in photovoltaic parameters could be due to highly porous microspheres which provide more specific surface area for dye loading, retardation of recombination, and better charge transport.

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Acknowledgment

The authors RC and YW are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, Project No. (IFA12-CH-34), for the financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology, Off Pashan Road, Pune, 411008, India

    Yogesh Waghadkar, Manish Shinde, Reshma Ballal, Sunit Rane & Ratna Chauhan

  2. Department of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Yogesh Waghadkar

  3. Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Suresh Gosavi

Authors
  1. Yogesh Waghadkar
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  2. Manish Shinde
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  3. Reshma Ballal
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  4. Sunit Rane
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  5. Suresh Gosavi
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  6. Ratna Chauhan
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Correspondence to Ratna Chauhan.

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Waghadkar, Y., Shinde, M., Ballal, R. et al. Time-varied synthesis of hierarchical ZnO microspheres and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Solid State Electrochem 21, 1797–1804 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3554-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3554-y

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