Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO Nanorods by Hydrothermal Methods and Its Application on Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of ZnO Nanorods (ZnO NRs) morphology synthesized by the hydrothermal method to electrical properties of CH3NH3PbI3/ZnO NRs perovskite solar cell (PSCs). ZnO nanorods were synthesized on the ITO substrate by a hydrothermal method. ZnO NRs were synthesized using hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) and zinc nitrate with a 1:1 molar ratio for 6 h. The growth temperature varied at 90°C and 100°C. The zinc nitrate concentration also varied at 25mM and 50 mM. The perovskite was made through a two-step deposition by spin coating with PbI2 and CH3NH3I as the main ingredients. The effects of the synthesis conditions on ZnO NRs and Perovskite films were systematically investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), LCR AC meters and multimeters. The SEM results showed that as the temperature and concentration of zinc nitrate increase the size of the diameter and length of the rods are increasing. ZnO NRs synthesized with 50 mM concentrations of zinc nitrate at a growth temperature of 90 °C temperature showed the best results in terms of ZnO NRs morphology. The XRD characterization results showed that the formed CH3NH3PbI3 film contained PbI2 impurities. The existence of PbI2 was suspected in opening the gap of recombination causing in low current and high dielectric constant.