title: Novel ZnO microflowers on nanorod arrays: local dissolution-driven growth and enhanced light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells.
abstract: ZnO nanostructures were manipulated, via a low-temperature solution process, from pure nanorod arrays to complex nanostructures of microflowers on nanorod arrays with adjusted quantities of flowers. We proposed the mechanism of local dissolution-driven growth to rationally discuss the novel growth process. These nanostructures were used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Compared to pure nanorod arrays, the nanorod array-microflower hierarchical structures improved the power conversion efficiency from 0.41% to 0.92%, corresponding to a 124% efficiency increase. The enhancement of the efficiency was mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of the enhanced surface area for higher dye loading and the improved light harvesting from efficient light scattering. Present results provide a promising route to improve the capability of light-harvesting for ZnO nanorod array-based DSSCs.
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kaimo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guobin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: China National Academy of Nanotechnology and Engineering, Tianjin 300457, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Dye-sensitized solar cells; Light harvesting; Microflowers; Nanorod arrays; ZnO
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