Characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells based on various CaCO3-doped ZnO photoanodes prepared using wet powder mixing and grinding

Abstract

The effects of different doping contents of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) on the performance of zinc oxide (ZnO)-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have never been discussed. In this paper, ZnO nanopowder and CaCO3 nanopowder at different weight percentage concentrations (0–9 wt%) were made into the photoanodes of DSSCs using the wet powder mixing and grinding method. The CaCO3/ZnO DSSC doped with 3 wt% CaCO3 had the highest short-circuit current density (4.35 mA/cm2) and photovoltaic conversion efficiency (1.18%), higher than the short-circuit current density of the reference ZnO-based DSSC by 52%, and the photovoltaic conversion efficiency by 46%. It was found that the photoanodes prepared by doping a small amount of CaCO3 into ZnO could enhance the photoelectric properties of ZnO-based DSSC effectively. The characterization of the CaCO3/ZnO DSSCs were carried out via the measurement of scanning electron microscope (SEM), contact angle (CA) and photocurrent density-voltage (J-V) characteristics. A theoretical background based on charge transport and interfacial recombination was provided to elucidate the process and was tried to explain the mechanism of CaCO3/ZnO DSSC. Although the efficiency of CaCO3/ZnO DSSC still has much room for improvement, the related processes and mechanisms behind this device have considerable research and/or reference value.