Electrodeposition preparation of ZnO nanobelt array films and application to dye-sensitized solar cells

ZnO nanobelt array films were prepared using an electrodeposition method with liquid crystal template. The as-prepared sample was amorphous and changed to nanocrystalline ZnO after sintered at 500 °C for 1 h. The sintered film with nanobelt width of about 5 nm was first applied as a photoanode of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), and a high short-circuit photocurrent density of 17 mA/cm2 and an overall light-to-energy conversion efficiency of 2.6% were achieved.