Applications of highly ordered paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorods in dye sensitized solar cells

•We prepared highly ordered paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorods by simple sol–gel method•Investigated the importance of embedding TiO2 nanoparticles on ZnO nanorod based dye sensitized solar cells•Achieved maximum power conversion efficiency of 3.25% for TiO2 nanoparticle embedded ZnO nanorod based dye sensitized solar cells

Highly ordered paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorods have been prepared by the simple sol–gel hydrothermal method. TiO2 nanoparticles are embedded on hydrothermally grown paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorods. The TiO2 nanoparticle embedded nanorods were used as a photo-anode in dye sensitized solar cells and their photovoltaic performance was analyzed. The TiO2 nanoparticle embedded paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorod electrodes enhance the adsorption of dye molecules, charge transport and power conversion efficiency. The crystallinity, presence of TiO2 nanoparticle on ZnO nanorods and morphology of the photo-anodes were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy studies. The dye molecules adsorbed by the photo-anode were observed by UV–vis absorption spectra. The efficiency of the TiO2 nanoparticle embedded paddle wheel like structured ZnO nanorod based dye sensitized solar cell is 3.25%.