Photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized ZnO solar cell based on Eosin- Y photosensitizer

The paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of dye sensitized solar cells using ZnO due to its stability against photo-corrosion and photochemical properties similar to TiO2. Thin films of nanocrystalline ZnO and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) were deposited on transparent conducting oxide glass using glass rod spreading method. Both doped and undoped ZnO films were found to be polycrystalline in nature. The ZnO electrode was dye sensitized by using an organic dye, Eosin-Y. The maximum quantum efficiency appears at the wavelength of 550 nm in both cases. However, the maximum quantum efficiency is higher (12%) in the case of ZnO cell electrode than AZO (7%) cell. The electric energy conversion efficiency was found to be 1.43% and 0.6% for undoped ZnO and Al-doped ZnO electrodes respectively. The lower conversion efficiency of the Al-doped ZnO solar cell could be attributed to lower injection efficiency due to less porosity in dye sensitized Al-doped ZnO electrode.