Exploiting electrodeposited flower-like Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O nanosheets as precursor for porous ZnO nanosheets

• Flower-like Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O nanosheets was prepared by electrodeposition.
• ZnO porous nanosheets were obtained by sintering Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O precursor.
• Effect of electrodeposition parameters on the precursor were systematically studied.
• QDSCs based on ZnO porous nanosheets exhibited a promising performance.

Flower-like ZnO nanosheets with porous structure are obtained by an indirect electrodeposition method. That is, flower-like Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O as precursor is first electro deposited in the Zn(NO3)2 electrolyte containing K2S2O8 followed by a simple thermal treatment. The effects of some important electrodeposition parameters, such as K2S2O8 concentration, electrodeposition potential and duration, on the morphology of flower-like Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O nanosheets are systematically studied. The Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O nanosheets could be converted to ZnO porous nanosheets by a simple heat treatment process. The ZnO porous nanosheets still present the flower-like structure and are composed of the ZnO nanocrystals about tens of nanometers in size. For the primary application, the quantum dot-sensitized solar cells based on ZnO porous nanosheets show a promising performance, obviously higher than those based on Zn4(OH)6SO4·4H2O nanosheets.

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