Highly transparent and conducting boron doped zinc oxide films for window of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell applications

Highly transparent and conducting boron doped zinc oxide (ZnO:B) films grown by sol–gel method are reported. The annealing temperature is varied from 350 to 550 °C and doping concentration of boron is kept fixed for 0.6 at.% for all the films. At low temperature the stress in the films is compressive, which becomes tensile for the films annealed at higher temperature. A minimum resistivity of 7.9 × 10−4 Ω cm and maximum transmittance of ∼91% are observed for the film annealed at 450 °C. This could be attributed to minimum stress of films, which is further evident by the evolution of A1 and defect related Raman modes without any shifting in its position. Such kind of highly transparent and conducting ZnO:B thin film could be used as window material in Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC).

► Synthesis of Boron doped ZnO (ZnO:B) films.
► Minimum of resistivity is observed to be 7.9 × 10−4 Ω cm.
► Maximum transmittance ∼91% for 450 °C annealed films.
► Applicable for window materials in Dye Sensitized Solar Cell.