An investigation of the effects of ZnO inverse opal pore size in the composite of ZnO nanorods/ZnO inverse opal on the performance of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A semiconductor oxide composite consisting of ZnO nanorods (NRs) and ZnO inverse opal (IO) was fabricated and used in the photoanode of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). Using polystyrene spheres 500, 800, 1000, and 1500 nm in diameter as the IO template, ZnO composites and corresponding QDSSCs with ZnO IOs of different pore sizes were fabricated. The oxide composite prepared with ZnO IOs of different pore sizes showed similar micro-morphologies; however, the photovoltaic performance of the QDSSCs based on these composites varied greatly. The QDSSCs based on the ZnO composite achieved high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of more than 6%, and the maximum PCE was 7.26% when the ZnO IO pore diameter in the composite was 800 nm. This resulted in very high PCE values for the QDSSCs using CdS/CdSe quantum dot sensitizers. With further interface modifications of NH₄F and ZnS, the QDSSC achieved an even higher PCE value of 11.38%. Subsequently, the effects of ZnO IO pore size in the composite on QDSSC performance were investigated.