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Journal of Materials Science and Nanotechnology | Volume 2

October 29-30, 2018 | London, UK

Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

International Conference on

Effect of organic ligand-decorated ZnO nanoparticles on electricity conversion efficiency of solar cell

Alireza Samavati

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia

fficiency improvement of the industrial scale solar cells to

capture sunlight as an important renewable energy source

is attracting significant attention to prevent the consumption of

a finite supply of unsustainable fossil fuels. ZnO nanoparticles

decorated with an imine-linked receptor have been used in the

fabrication of a photocathode based on dye-sensitized solar

cells for the purpose of photovoltaic efficiency enhancement.

Various characterization techniques have been employed to

investigate the structural, morphological and optical behaviors

of the solar cell having ZnOnanoparticles and ZnOnanoparticles

decorated with an organic ligand as a photocathode layer. The

decorated nanoparticles have a stable wurtzite structure and

an average grain size of 45 nm, confirmed by the TEM image

and XRD through the Scherrer equation. The ZnO sample emits

wide peaks in the visible range and the emission intensity of

the ZnO-DOL sample increases along with a red-shift (0.38 eV)

in the band gap. This shift can be explained using deep level

transition, surface plasmon energy of a surfactant, andcoupling

of ZnO with local surface plasmon energy. UV-Vis absorption

spectra together with photoluminescence spectra confirm

the higher absorption rate due to organic ligand decoration

on ZnO nanoparticles. The greatest solar power-to-electricity

conversion efficiency (h) of 3.48% is achieved for the ZnO-DOL

sample. It is enhanced by 3.13%as compared to that of the ZnO-

based solar cell. The ZnO-DOL device exhibits a higher external

quantum efficiency (EQE), responsivity (Rl) and photocurrent-

to-dark current ratio; this confirms the improvement in the

solar cell performance.