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Electrodeposition of ZnO nanorods on graphene: tuning the topography for application as tin oxide-free electron transport layer

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Abstract

The heterostructure of graphene and ZnO nanorods is attractive as a tin oxide-free electron transport layer for a broad variety of excitonic photovoltaic technologies. This work focuses on the effect of electrodeposition variables on morphology and performance of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanorods (ZVNRs) on graphene. This in situ growth technique has potential for fabrication of a wide variety of graphene heterostructures under mild synthesis conditions to prevent graphene damage. Large area graphene was grown by chemical vapor deposition, stacked up to four atomic layers, and transferred to glass. ZVNRs were electrodeposited on the graphene-coated glass and the topography was controlled by changing the electrodeposition parameters of the time, temperature, stirring, and seeding layers. The mechanisms controlling the cathodic electrodeposition of nanocrystals on graphene were studied by scanning electron microscopy of the ZVNRs topography. The effect of the topography of the ZVNRs on the electron generation and transport was studied for photoanode application in reference dye-sensitized solar cells. The charge transfer resistance and kinetics of the materials as photoanodes were measured with the techniques of linear sweep voltammetry, open circuit voltage decay, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The optimization of ZnO growth resulted in an increase of the surface-to-volume ratio of the electrode from 10 to 250 mm−1, 60-fold increase of electron lifetime and ten-fold increase in power output. The results of this study provide fundamental understanding for designing electrodeposition processes of the hybrid ZVNR/graphene material.

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Data availability

Data and materials used in the study are available upon request to the email cchaves@itcr.ac.cr.

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Acknowledgements

A.M. acknowledges the financial support from W. Ruel Johnson Chair in Environmental Engineering. C.V. acknowledges Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica for the scholarship to pursue her Ph.D. studies at UC Riverside.

Funding

The study was performed with the financial support from W. Ruel Johnson Chair in Environmental Engineering. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica supported the Ph.D. studies of C.V. in UC Riverside with a scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Claudia C. Villarreal & Ashok Mulchandani

  2. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Danish Pirzada, Annie Wong & Ashok Mulchandani

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, 30101, Costa Rica

    Claudia C. Villarreal

  4. Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92507, USA

    Ashok Mulchandani

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  1. Claudia C. Villarreal
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  2. Danish Pirzada
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Contributions

CV was responsible for device design, materials fabrication, electrochemical measurements and original draft preparation; DP and AW collaborated in materials fabrication and electrochemical measurements; AW revised the manuscript; AM guided the revision of the manuscript and design of the study. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Claudia C. Villarreal.

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Villarreal, C.C., Pirzada, D., Wong, A. et al. Electrodeposition of ZnO nanorods on graphene: tuning the topography for application as tin oxide-free electron transport layer. J Appl Electrochem 51, 977–989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-021-01531-7

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