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Investigation of the dye-sensitized solar cell designed by a series of mixed metal oxides based on ZnAl-layered double hydroxide

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Abstract

In this paper, the anode materials for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) were prepared by a facile calcination method using the ZnAl-layered double hydroxide (LDH) as a precursor. The ZnAl-LDHs with different molar ratios (Zn:Al = 2, 4, 6, 8) were prepared by the urea method and the mixed metal oxides (MMO) were prepared by calcining the LDHs at 500 °C. A series of cells were assembled by the corresponding MMOs and different dyes (N3 and N719). The basic parameters were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, nitrogen sorption analysis and UV–Vis absorption spectrum. The photovoltaic performance of DSSCs was measured by electrochemical method. It could be seen that ZnAl molar ratios and different dyes had great influence on the efficiency of DSSC. The efficiency improved explicitly with increasing ZnAl molar ratio and the DSSC made of N3 showed better efficiency than that of N719. The best efficiency of N3 conditions reached 0.55% when the ratio of ZnAl-LDH precursor was 8:1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 51372141, 61376069 and 11574181).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Yatong Zhu, Dali Wang, Xiaoyu Yang, Sha Liu, Dong Liu, Jie Liu, Xiaotao Hao & Jianqiang Liu

  2. School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Hongdi Xiao

  3. School of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Kashgar University, Kashgar, 844000, People’s Republic of China

    Jianqiang Liu

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  1. Yatong Zhu
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Correspondence to Jianqiang Liu.

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Zhu, Y., Wang, D., Yang, X. et al. Investigation of the dye-sensitized solar cell designed by a series of mixed metal oxides based on ZnAl-layered double hydroxide. Appl. Phys. A 123, 641 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-017-1256-z

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