Green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using marine brown algae (Cystoseira) extract comprising sol–gel, and combustion techniques based on dye-sensitized solar cells application

Abstract

The ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using marine brown algae (Cystoseira) extract and calcination. For comparison, combustion, and sol–gel methods were employed to synthesize nanoparticles to use as material in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) photoanode. The produced nanoparticles were characterized using structural and morphological studies by FTIR, SEM, and XRD experiments, respectively. The results revealed that the net hexagonal crystal structure was achieved with a crystal size of less than 100 nm, good purity, spherical shape, and a suitable dimension for fabricating DSSCs. They exhibit enhanced properties due to the variation in their characteristics such as average size, size distribution, and morphology. The ZnO nanoparticles were used to fabricate the DSSCs by the doctor blade method, and the efficacy of each cell was evaluated using voltage–current measurement. The results were in good agreement with the characteristic curve of the commercialized DSSC. The best performance for the fabricated DSSCs was achieved using green synthesized ZnO nanoparticles, because of the influence of their morphology such as smaller crystal size, more grain boundaries, and bigger surface area. The cell’s solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency, short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor were measured as ∼1.13%, 3.8[Formula: see text]mA/cm2, 620[Formula: see text]mV, and 54.3%, respectively. The enhanced photovoltaic properties were ascribed to the flower-like morphological structures of the ZnO nanoparticles prepared using the green synthesis method.