The enhanced light harvesting performance of dye-sensitized solar cells based on ZnO nanorod-TiO2 nanotube hybrid photoanodes

In this study, TiO2/ZnO hybrid nanocomposites (TZ) were fabricated by two step synthesis route for potential applications as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Titania nanotubes were grown on titanium sheets by electrochemical oxidation. ZnO nanorods were decorated with hydrothermal method by equimolar (0.1 M) precursors on TiO2 nanotubes. Hydrothermal temperatures values were changed to find the optimal ZnO decoration density to increase photo conversion efficiency. The characterization of the photoanodes was made using FE-SEM, XRD and XPS techniques. The results show that hydrothermal reaction temperature can dramatically enhance the light harvesting performance of TZ photoanodes. The photo conversation efficiency of DSSC by TZ photoanode was reached 1.67 % for hydrothermal temperature of 130 degrees C which is twofold higher than that of DSSC by TiO2 nanotubes (0.81 %). The improvement in photo conversation conversion efficiency can be assigned to synergetic effect in TZ photoanode, lower recombination rate and charge transfer resistance.