A photoanode with Ga-doped ZnO nanorods has been prepared on F-doped SnO2 (FTO) coated glass substrate and its application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been investigated. Gadoped ZnO nanorods have been synthesized by an electric-field-assisted wet chemical approach at 80 ̊C. Under a direct current electric field, the nanorods predominantly grow on cathodes. The results of the X-ray ...

A solid-state environmentally friendly Ag2S quantum dot-sensitized solar cell (QDSSC) is demonstrated. The photovoltaic device is fabricated by applying ZnO@Ag2S core-shell nanowire arrays (NWAs) as light absorbers and electron conductors, and poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) as a solid-state hole conductor. Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) were directly grown on the ZnO nanowires by the successive ionic la...

A SnO2 nanocrystallite-based photoanode was prepared using tin (iv) chloride and fructose via a one-pot hydrothermal method, and its structural and morphological properties were studied. Structural observations revealed tetragonal crystals of SnO2, and morphological studies confirmed the presence of spherical nanoparticulates. Furthermore, encapsulating the surface of the SnO2 photoanode (+N719...

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting promises a solution to the problem of large-scale solar energy storage. However, its development has been impeded by the poor performance of photoanodes, particularly in their capability for photovoltage generation. Many examples employing photovoltaic modules to correct the deficiency for unassisted solar water splitting have been reported to-date. He...

Development of efficient, robust and earth-abundant water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) is extremely desirable for water splitting by electrolysis or photocatalysis. Herein, we report cobalt oxide nanoparticles anchored on the surface of sulfonated graphite (denoted as “CoOx@G-Ph-SN”) to exhibit unexpectedly efficient water oxidation activity with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 1.2 s ; two or three...

Photo-electrochemical water splitting is a very promising and environmentally friendly route for the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen. However, the solar-to-H2 conversion efficiency is still very low due to rapid bulk recombination of charge carriers. Here, a photonic nano-architecture is developed to improve charge carrier generation and separation by manipulating and confining light a...

Amorphous Si (a-Si)/crystalline Si (c-Si) heterojunction (SiHJ) can serve as highly efficient and robust photoelectrodes for solar fuel generation. Low carrier recombination in the photoelectrodes leads to high photocurrents and photovoltages. The SiHJ was designed and fabricated into both photoanode and photocathode with high oxygen and hydrogen evolution efficiency, respectively, by simply co...

We report a new photoanode for flexible dye sensitized solar cells based on a judicious combination of SnO(2) nanoparticles and ZnO nanotetrapods and the development of an effective low temperature fabrication technique of "acetic acid gelation-mechanical press-ammonia activation". A 4.91% efficiency has been achieved on an ITO-coated polyethylenenaphthalate (ITO/PEN) substrate under 1 sun equi...

The physicochemical properties of a tantalum nitride (Ta3N5) photoanode were investigated in detail to understand the fundamental aspects associated with the photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation. The Ta3N5 thin films were synthesized using DC magnetron sputtering followed by annealing in air and nitridation under ammonia (NH3). A polycrystalline structure with a dense morphology of the mo...

Dye-sensitized solar cells based on ordered arrays of polycrystalline ZnO nanotubes, 64 mum in length, are shown to exhibit efficient electron collection over the entire photoanode array length. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, open-circuit photovoltage decay analysis, and incident-photon-to-current efficiency spectra are used to quantify charge transport and lifetimes. Despite the relat...