Dye-sensitized solar cell based on spray deposited ZnO thin film: performance analysis through DFT approach

A dye-sensitized solar cell based on a spray deposited zinc oxide (ZnO) photoanode with Evans blue as a sensitizer was fabricated. Structural analysis confirms the hexagonal wurtzite phase of the ZnO photoanode with c-axis orientation. Surface morphology of the ZnO photoanode shows uniform distribution of spherically-shaped grains, ranging from 18 nm to 25 nm. The power conversion efficiency of the device was measured as 0.1%. Density functional theory was adopted to study the observed photovoltaic performance of the fabricated device. The analysis of the electronic properties of Evans blue dye showed that it has a pronounced effect on the observed device performance.