One-step large-scale synthesis of porous ZnO nanofibers and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

A one-step thermal evaporation and vapor-phase transport method was utilized to synthesize porous ZnO nanofibers in large scale. The synthesized nanofibers are highly porous, with diameters in the range of 200–700 nm and lengths of several micrometers. The addition of the CuCl2·2H2O into the Zn precursor powder was proved to be critical for the formation of the porous structures, which were proposed to be resulted from the decomposition of the unstable Cl-containing intermediate products such as zinc hydroxide chloride or zinc oxide chloride hydrate phases. In addition, a demonstration of applying the porous ZnO nanofibers as the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells is provided.

► Porous ZnO nanofibers were synthesized by a one-step thermal evaporation method.
► The porous structures were induced by the addition of the CuCl2·2H2O additive into the precursor.
► The decomposition of the Cl-containing intermediate products was proposed to result in the pores.
► The porous ZnO nanofibers were used as the photoanode of a dye-sensitized solar cell.