Spray deposited ZnO nanostructured layers for dye sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on ZnO nanostructures have been fabricated by spray deposition of hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanoparticles and using vertical ZnO nanorod arrays prepared in a continuous spray pyrolysis reactor. The selfassembled nanostructures, due to the presence of the electric field during spray deposition, improve the cell efficiency (η) from 2.8% for ZnO nanocrystalline film (thickness 4.3 μm) to 4.7% for ZnO nanostructured film (enhancement of 60%). The best performance with ZnO nanorods cell structure gives η of 1.70 for the layer thickness and cell area of 2 μm & 0.25 cm2, respectively.