Preparation and Performance of ZnO and ZnO/MnO2 Nanostructures as Anode Electrodes in DSSCs

https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.84037

Suaad Abd Mahdi Abd Noor(1*), Amer Muosa Juda Al-Shamari(2)

(1) Pharmacology College, University of Kufa, Najaf 54001, Iraq
(2) Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kufa, Najaf 54001, Iraq
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Nanoparticles and nanocomposites prepared by the hydrothermal method (ZnO, ZnO/MnO2) were used to build dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which were used as photoelectrodes using two natural dyes as the absorbent media: red (Hibiscus sabdariffa) and green (Apium graveolens). The results showed the efficiency of the green dye in DSSCs is superior to the red dye in terms of conversion efficiency (η). The purpose of the study is to improve the performance of dye solar cells. The properties of nanomaterials were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for the analysis of ZnO NPs and ZnO/MnO2, whereas the sizes of the prepared materials are within the size of 1–100 nm. The solar cell parameters were obtained from simple (I-V) measurements for nanomaterials prepared using two-dye DSSCs where Isc represents the short circuit current through the solar cell when the voltage across the solar cell is zero, and Voc represents the open circuit voltage across the solar cell and is the maximum voltage available from the solar cell. The photoelectrochemical properties of the two dye DSSCs in this study were calculated at 22.53 mW/cm2 of the light intensity.

Keywords


semiconductors; nano chemical synthesis; photoelectrodes; establishment of DSSCs; conversion efficiency

Full Text:

Full Text PDF


References

[1] Wu, Y., Li, C., Tian, Z., and Sun, J., 2020, Solar-driven integrated energy systems: State of the art and challenges, J. Power Sources, 478, 228762.

[2] Yan, N., Zhao, C., You, S., Zhang, Y., and Li, W., 2020, Recent progress of thin-film photovoltaics for indoor application, Chin. Chem. Lett., 31 (3), 643–653.

[3] Metwally, R.A., El Nady, J., Ebrahim, S., El Sikaily, A., El-Sersy, N.A., Sabry, S.A., and Ghozlan, H.A., 2023, Biosynthesis, characterization and optimization of TiO2 nanoparticles by novel marine halophilic Halomonas sp. RAM2: Application of natural dye-sensitized solar cells, Microb. Cell Fact., 22 (1), 78.

[4] Liu, S., Yuan, J., Deng, W., Luo, M., Xie, Y., Liang, Q., Zou, Y., He, Z., Wu, H., and Cao, Y., 2020, High-efficiency organic solar cells with low non-radiative recombination loss and low energetic disorder, Nat. Photonics, 14 (5), 300–305.

[5] Wang, S.Y., Chen, C.P., Chung, C.L., Hsu, C.W., Hsu, H.L., Wu, T.H., Zhuang, J.Y., Chang, C.J., Chen, H.M., and Chang, Y.J., 2019, Defect passivation by amide-based hole-transporting interfacial layer enhanced perovskite grain growth for efficient p-i-n perovskite solar cells, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 11 (43), 40050–40061.

[6] Omer, M.I., Ye, T., Li, X., Ma, S., Wu, D., Wei, L., Tang, X., Ramakrishna, S., Zhu, Q., Xiong, S., Xu, J., Vijila, C., and Wang, X., 2023, Two quasi-interfacial p-n junctions observed by a dual-irradiation system in perovskite solar cells, npj Flexible Electron., 7 (1), 23.

[7] Liao, Y., Tian, N., Wang, J., Yao, D., Zheng, G., Zhou, B., Yang, Y., and Long, F., 2022, Performance enhancement of evaporated CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cells with a CuSCN hole transport layer via a cesium bromide buffer layer, ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 5 (8), 9542–9548.

[8] Mishu, M.K., Rokonuzzaman, M., Pasupuleti, J., Shakeri, M., Rahman, K.S., Hamid, F.A., Tiong, S.K., and Amin, N., 2020, Prospective efficient ambient energy harvesting sources for IoT-equipped sensor applications, Electronics, 9 (9), 1345.

[9] Bardwell, M., Wong, J., Zhang, S., and Musilek, P., 2018, Design considerations for IoT-based PV charge controllers, 2018 IEEE World Congress on Services (SERVICES), San Francisco, CA, USA, 2-7 July 2018, 59–60.

[10] Michaels, H., Rinderle, M., Freitag, R., Benesperi, I., Edvinsson, T., Socher, R., Gagliardi, A., and Freitag, M., 2020, Dye-sensitized solar cells under ambient light powering machine learning: Towards autonomous smart sensors for the internet of things, Chem. Sci., 11 (11), 2895–2906.

[11] Dhingra, S., Madda, R.B., Patan, R., Jiao, P., Barri, K., and Alavi, A.H., 2020, Internet of things-based fog and cloud computing technology for smart traffic monitoring, Internet Things, 14, 100175.

[12] Lee, H.K.H., Barbé, J., Meroni, S.M.P., Du, T., Lin, C.T., Pockett, A., Troughton, J., Jain, S.M., De Rossi, F., Baker, J., Carnie, M.J., McLachlan, M.A., Watson, T.M., Durrant, J.R., and Tsoi, W.C., 2019, Outstanding indoor performance of perovskite photovoltaic cells – Effect of device architectures and interlayers, Sol. RRL, 3 (1), 1800207.

[13] Prajapat, K., Dhonde, M., Sahu, K., Bhojane, P., Murty, V.V.S., and Shirage, P.M., 2023, The evolution of organic materials for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells, J. Photochem. Photobiol., C, 55, 100586.

[14] Meador, W.E., Liyanage, N.P., Watson, J., Groenhout, K., and Delcamp, J.H., 2023, Panchromatic NIR-absorbing sensitizers with a thienopyrazine auxiliary acceptor for dye-sensitized solar cells, ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 6 (10), 5416–5428.

[15] Perrella, F., Li, X., Petrone, A., and Rega, N., 2023, Nature of the ultrafast interligands electron transfers in dye-sensitized solar cells, JACS Au, 3 (1), 70–79.

[16] Kumar, D., Parmar, K.P.S., and Kuchhal, P., 2020, Optimizing photovoltaic efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) by a combined (modelling-simulation and experimental) study, Int. J. Renewable Energy Res., 10 (1), 165–174.

[17] Supriyanto, E., Kartikasari, H.A., Alviati, N., and Wiranto, G., 2019, Simulation of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) performance for various local natural dye photosensitizers, IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng., 515, 012048.

[18] Bashir, M.B.A., Rajpar, A.H., Salih, E.Y., and Ahmed, E.M., 2023, Preparation and photovoltaic evaluation of CuO@Zn(Al)O-mixed metal oxides for dye-sensitized solar cell, Nanomaterials, 13 (5), 802.

[19] Alizadeh, A., Roudgar-Amoli, M., Bonyad-Shekalgourabi S.M., Shariatinia, Z., Mahmoudi, M., and Saadat, F., 2022, Dye-sensitized solar cells go beyond using perovskite and spinel inorganic materials: A review, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev., 157, 112047.

[20] Lu, J., Liu, S., and Wang, M., 2018, Push-pull zinc porphyrins as light-harvesters for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells, Front. Chem., 6, 00541.

[21] Kakiage, K., Aoyama, Y., Yano, T., Oya, K., Fujisawa, J., and Hanaya, M., 2015, Highly-efficient dye-sensitized solar cells with collaborative sensitization by silyl-anchor and carboxy-anchor dyes, Chem. Commun., 51 (88), 15894–15897.

[22] Cao, Y., Liu, Y., Zakeeruddin, S.M., Hagfeldt, A., and Grätzel, M., 2018, Direct contact of selective charge extraction layers enables high-efficiency molecular photovoltaics, Joule, 2, 1108–1117.

[23] Abu Nayem, S.M., Shah, S.S., Chaity, S.B., Biswas, B.K., Nahar, B., Aziz, M.A., and Hossain, M.Z., 2022, Jute stick extract assisted hydrothermal synthesis of zinc oxide nanoflakes and their enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial efficacy, Arabian J. Chem., 15 (11), 104265.

[24] Zhou, Y., Xu, L., Wu, Z., Li, P., and He, J., 2017, Optical and photocatalytic properties of nanocrystalline ZnO powders synthesized by a low-temperature hydrothermal method, Optik, 130, 673–680.

[25] Raji, R., and Gopchandran, K.G., 2017, ZnO nanostructures with tunable visible luminescence: Effects of kinetics of chemical reduction and annealing, J. Sci.: Adv. Mater. Devices, 2 (1), 51–58.

[26] Selim, H., Nada, A.A., El-Sayed, M., Hegazey, R.M., Souaya, E.R., and Kotkata, M.F., 2018, The Effect of ZnO and its nanocomposite on the performance of dye sensitized solar cell, Nano Sci. Nano Technol., 12 (1), 122.

[27] Shanavas Khan, J., Asha Radhakrishnan, A., and Beena, B., 2018, Polyaniline/zinc oxide nanocomposite as a remarkable antimicrobial agent in contrast with PANI and ZnO, Indian J. Adv. Chem. Sci., 6 (2), 71–76.

[28] Quadri, T.W., Olasunkanmi, L.O., Fayemi, O.E., Solomon, M.M., and Ebenso, E.E., 2017, Zinc oxide nanocomposites of selected polymers: Synthesis, characterization, and corrosion inhibition studies on mild steel in HCl solution, ACS Omega, 2 (11), 8421−8437.

[29] Anantha, M.S., Kiran Kumar, S.R., Anarghya, D., Venkatesh, K., Santosh, M.S., Yogesh Kumar, K., and Muralidhara, H.B., 2021, ZnO@MnO2 nanocomposite modified carbon paste electrode for electrochemical detection of dopamine, Sens. Int., 2, 100087.

[30] Bulcha, B., Leta Tesfaye, J., Anatol, D., Shanmugam, R., Dwarampudi, L.P., Nagaprasad, N., Bhargavi, V.L.N., and Krishnaraj, R., 2021, Synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles by hydrothermal methods and spectroscopic investigation of ultraviolet radiation protective properties, J. Nanomater., 2021, 8617290.

[31] Acharyya, S., Dey, S., Nag, S., and Guha, P.K., 2018, ZnO cladded MnO2 based resistive sensor device for Formaldehyde sensing, 2018 IEEE SENSORS, New Delhi, India, 28-31 October 2018, 1−4.

[32] Lokman, M.Q., Shafie, S., Shaban, S., Ahmad, F., Jaafar, H., Mohd Rosnan, R., Yahaya, H., and Abdullah, S.S., 2019, Enhancing photocurrent performance based on photoanode thickness and surface plasmon resonance using Ag-TiO2 nanocomposites in dye-sensitized solar cells, Materials, 12 (13), 2111.

[33] Schöttner, L., Nefedov, A., Yang, C., Heissler, S., Wang, Y., and Wöll, C., 2019, Structural evolution of α-Fe2O3 (0001) surfaces under reduction conditions monitored by infrared spectroscopy preview on related iron oxide, Front. Chem., 7, 00451.

[34] Fang, Y., Ma, P., Cheng, H., Tan, G., Wu, J., Zheng, J., Zhou, X., Fang, S., Dai, Y., and Lin, Y., 2019, Synthesis of low-viscosity ionic liquids for application in dye-sensitized solar cells, Chem. - Asian J., 14 (23), 4201–4206.

[35] Rangel, D., Gallegos, J.C., Vargas, S., García, F., and Rodríguez, R., 2019, Optimized dye-sensitized solar cells: A comparative study with different dyes, mordants and construction parameters, Results Phys., 12, 2026–2037.

[36] Abdul-Sajad Al-Hachamy, F.A., 2020, Preparation of High Activity Binary and Ternary MgO Nanocomposites Catalysts and Their Environmental Application, Dissertation, College of Science, University of Kufa.



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.84037

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 1385 | views : 790


Copyright (c) 2023 Indonesian Journal of Chemistry

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

 

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry (ISSN 1411-9420 /e-ISSN 2460-1578) - Chemistry Department, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia.

Web Analytics View The Statistics of Indones. J. Chem.