Performance analysis of dye-sensitized solar cells with various MgO-ZnO mixed photoanodes prepared by wet powder mixing and grinding

Abstract

In this study, photoanodes of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) were made by adding various weight percentages (0∼9 wt%) of MgO nanopowder to ZnO nanopowder with a different wet powder mixing and grinding method. For the MgO/ZnO DSSCs, the addition of 1 wt% MgO can achieve maximum short-circuit current density (4.00 mA/cm²) and maximum photovoltaic conversion efficiency (1.03%), which was 39% and 27% better than those of the reference ZnO DSSCs, respectively. When a small amount of MgO was added, the electron transport rate or the efficiency of electron injection into photoanodes was improved. However, when a large amount of MgO was added, the number of carriers generated by light was lowered, which led to performance degradation in DSSCs. Preparing photoanodes by adding a small amount of MgO to ZnO can thus effectively improve the photovoltaic performance of ZnO DSSCs.

KEYWORDS:

• Zinc oxide (ZnO)
• magnesium oxide (MgO)
• nanoparticles
• wet powder mixing and grinding
• photoanode
• dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the enthusiastic assistance from Dr. Der-Ray Huang, the late Chair Professor and Honorary Professor of the Institute of Lighting and Energy Photonics, College of Photonics, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and the Department of Opto-Electronic Engineering, National Dong Hua University (NDHU), Taiwan, respectively. The resources and equipment supported by the Solar Energy Resource Center, Energy Science and Technology Talent Cultivation Program of the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Taiwan from 2011 to 2013 are also appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).