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Hierarchical ZnO nanorod-on-nanosheet arrays electrodes for efficient CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) ZnO nanosheet arrays were prepared via vanadium (V)-doping assisted hydrothermal method, and then the nanosheet was successfully converted to a nanorod-on-nanosheet ZnO hierarchical structure by treating with Na2S solution and subsequent hydrothermal reaction. Hierarchical films with different nanorod growth time (1–8 h) were prepared and their photovoltaic properties were also investigated after electrodeposition of CdSe quantum dots. For the hierarchical nanorod-on-nanosheet ZnO films, increasing the ZnO nanorod growth time can enormously enlarge the length of branched nanorods and light-scattering ability, resulting in better light-harvesting efficiency and higher photo-generated electron concentration, which leads to higher short-circuit current density (J sc) and open-circuit voltage (V oc). However, further increasing nanorod growth time to 8 h leads to the over-dense coverage of nanorods, which is harmful for light-harvesting efficiency and leads to severe electron recombination, eventually diminishes the power conversion efficiency (PCE). With the optimized nanorod modification and Cu2S counter electrode, the PCE reaches a maximum value of 4.26%, which to the best of our knowledge, is among the highest PCE record for CdSe sensitized solar cells based on ZnO photoanodes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Long-Bin Li, Wu-Qiang Wu, Hua-Shang Rao, Hong-Yan Chen, Hao-Lin Feng, Dai-Bin Kuang & Cheng-Yong Su

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  1. Long-Bin Li
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  2. Wu-Qiang Wu
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  3. Hua-Shang Rao
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  4. Hong-Yan Chen
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  5. Hao-Lin Feng
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  6. Dai-Bin Kuang
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  7. Cheng-Yong Su
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hong-Yan Chen or Dai-Bin Kuang.

Additional information

Long-Bin Li received his Bachelor’s degree from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in 2011. Now he is a PhD student at the School of Chemistry, SYSU. His research interest is focused on ZnO and Zn2SnO4 nanomaterials and their applications in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells.

Hong-Yan Chen is an associate professor at SYSU. She received her Bachelor’s degree in 2005 from the Northeast Normal University, and her PhD in physical chemistry from the Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS) in 2010. Her current research interest lies in the functional micro/nanostructured materials for dye-sensitized solar cells, photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical cells

Dai-Bin Kuang is a professor at SYSU. Dr. Kuang received his PhD degree from SYSU in 2003. He worked at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Germany) from 2003 to 2004 and then at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland) from 2004 to 2008 as postdoctoral researcher. His current research interest is in the field of new energy materials, focusing on functional nanostructured materials and their applications in dye-sensitized/quantum dot-sensitized solar cells, perovskite solar cells, photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical cells.

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Li, LB., Wu, WQ., Rao, HS. et al. Hierarchical ZnO nanorod-on-nanosheet arrays electrodes for efficient CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. Sci. China Mater. 59, 807–816 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5103-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5103-7

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