Facile and Rapid Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticles for Photovoltaic Device Application

Well-crystalline ZnO nanoparticles were prepared through simple, facile and rapid solution combustion process and utilized as photoanode material for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cell. The detailed characterizations of the ZnO nanoparticles revealed that the crystalline product with wurtzite hexagonal phase was grown in high-density. The chemical composition analyzed through FTIR and EDS confirmed the purity of the ZnO nanoparticles. UV-vis and Raman spectral studies were applied for studying the optical and vibrational properties of as prepared ZnO nanoparticles, respectively. The fabricated dye-sensitized solar cell exhibited overall photo-to-electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 0.94%, open-circuit current (V(oc)) of 0.531 V, short circuit current (J(sc)) of 4.11 mA/cm2 and fill factor (FF) of 0.43.