Enhanced charge transfer activity in Au nanoparticles decorated ZnO nanorods photoanode

Autor: Muhamad Adam Ramli, Akrajas Ali Umar, Iwantono Iwantono, Siti Khatijah Md Saad, Awitdrus Awitdrus, Fera Anggelina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures. 111:44-50
ISSN: 1386-9477
DOI: 10.1016/j.physe.2019.03.001
Popis: Charge-transfer and photoactivity at an interface of a photoactive materials, such as ZnO, is critically influence the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs). The performance of DSSCs utilizing Au decorated ZnO nanorod photoanode with Au nanoparticles grown at seven different growth times from 0.12 up to 6 min were studied. It was found that the charge transfer characteristic of DSSCs devices utilizing Au decorated ZnO nanorods increased with the increasing of Au nanoparticles size and density and optimum at Au nanoparticles size of ca. 15 nm and density of approximately 4–10 nanoparticles/nanorods. At this condition, the charge transfer resistance as low as 7.4 Ω was recorded. This is equivalent to power conversion efficiency of 1.11%. The charge transfer resistance gradually declined when the growth time further elongated. The efficient charge transfer can be associated to the excellent catalytic properties of Au nanoparticles on ZnO nanorods. This also improves its carrier transport in the device as judged from significantly low dark current properties. The improvement of light absorption can also be considered to improve the performance, attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of the gold nanoparticles. The preparation of Au nanoparticles decorated ZnO nanorods and the mechanism of charge transfer characteristics will be discussed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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