Growth and characterization of ZnO nanostructure on TiO2-ZnO films as a light scattering layer for dye sensitized solar cells

In the present work, we studied the effect of light scattering layer on the performance of DSSCs. TiO2-ZnO thin films were coated onto FFO glass substrate by spin coating technique as a photoanode for DSSCs. ZnO nanorods with flower structures were potentiostatically grown on TiO2-ZnO films at various potentials from -1.1 to 1-1.3 V as a light scattering layer. XRD patterns reveal that as the deposition potentials increase the growth of ZnO nanorods increases along with (101) plane orientation. FE-SEM images display agglomerated grains and nanorods with flower structures for TiO2-ZnO film, and ZnO has grown on TiO2-ZnO film at a deposition potential of 1.3 V. UV-vis spectra confirm the TiO2 -ZnO with ZnO nanorods having a higher light scattering effect, absorbance and dye loading than that of another film. The efficiency of the DSSCs consisting of without and with scattering layer is estimated to be 0.79 and 1.81%, respectively. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.