Nickel Doped Zinc Oxide/Titanium Oxide Films Toward Light Harvesting
Abstract
A simple, low-cost, and reliable dip-coating method was used to deposit Ni-doped ZnO films with various Ni doping % (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4) on the TiO2 layer. The simple Doctor Blade method was employed to deposit mesoporous TiO2 film. Various structural, morphological, optical and electrical characterizations are performed for a detailed study of TiO2 and Ni: ZnO/TiO2 photoanode. Further to measure the performance of solar cells it is assembled with polyiodide electrolyte and platinum counter electrode to perform the photovoltaic study. The prepared films were sensitized by using Ru(N3) (cis-Bis (isothiocyanato) bis(2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’- dicarboxylato ruthenium(II)) dye. The photoresponse of 2% Ni: ZnO-TiO2 based DSSC is higher than another Ni percentage doped ZnO-TiO2 photoanode based DSSCs. The electrical and optical properties obtained for Ni:ZnO on TiO2 photoanode demonstrated superior performance compared to TiO2 photoanode, which shows the coating improves the open-circuit voltage (Voc). This study suggests nickel doped ZnO can be used as a photoanode in DSSC.