Growth and Characterization of ZnO Nanorods Prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Photoanodes

Abstract

Chemical bath deposition (CBD) was used  effectively to create zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates, which were then used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The production of a Wurtzite-type hexagonal crystalline phase with a preferential orientation along the (002) plane was confirmed by structural characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) revealed vertically aligned nanorods with uniform morphology. Optical analysis via UV-Vis spectroscopy indicated reduced band gap of (3.27) eV and high transparency in the visible spectrum compared to bulk ZnO. The fabricated DSSCs based on these ZnO (NRs)  Photoanodes exhibited under air mass (AM 1.5G) solar illumination simulation, the photocurrent density (Jsc) was 0.911 mA/cm², the filling factor (FF) was 29%, the open circuit voltage (Voc) was 0.27 V, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) was 0.07%. These results suggest that ZnO nanorods preparation via CBD present a promising low-cost alternative for DSSC photoanodes.