Improvement of dye sensitized solar cell photovoltaic performance by using a ZnO-semiconductor processed by reaction bonded

Abstract

In this work activation of ZnO powders was achieved by using high energy ball milling combined with reaction bonded process. Herein, highly active ZnO photocatalyst was synthesized by mixing zinc oxide powder (ZnOraw) with the metallic Zn powder in a planetary-type mill. Results of X-ray diffraction of the synthesized ZnO, shown reflections peaks attributed to the wurtzite crystalline structure of ZnO with crystallite size around 24\xa0nm. To evaluate the effect of mechanochemical activation of ZnO for the dye sensitized solar cell performance, the obtained photocatalysts was used as photoanode and its electrical performance was measured. From the V–I curve it was found that the short circuit current (Jsc) for the ZnOraw was 2.93\xa0mA\xa0cm−2 and for the activated-ZnO a Jsc of 7.5\xa0mA\xa0cm−2, the short circuit current was improved in approximately three times. Concluding that solid-state reaction is a facile and promising method for the large-scale production of activated-ZnO photocatalytic materials.