Effect of Growth Solution Concentration on the Performance of Boron Doped ZnO Dye-sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)

Abstract

Synthesis parameter plays important role in modifying physical property of metal oxide films which serve as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This paper reports the synthesis of boron doped ZnO nanostructures via seed mediated growth hydrothermal technique and their application as photanode in DSSC. The growth process was carried out at various solution concentrations, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 M. The solution contains 1 % wt. dimethyl borate as boron source, hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) surfactant and zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)2). The samples are crystalline with wurtzite phase. The morphological shape of the samples changes with the growth solution concentration. The optical absorption increases as the concentration increases. However, the band gap does not significantly change with the concentration. The DSSC utilizing the ZnO sample prepared at 0.1 M solution performs the best photovoltaic parameters with the JSC of 0.969 mA cm-2, FF of 0.48 and η of 0.222%, respectively since it shows the highest absorption and lowest photoluminescence in visible region.