Continuous wet-process growth of ZnO nanoarrays for wire-shaped photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cell.
Well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays have been grown on metal-plated polymer fiber via a mild wet process in a newly-designed continuous reactor, aiming to provide wire-shaped photoanodes for wearable dye-sensitized solar cells. The growth conditions were systematically optimized with the help of computational flow-field simulation. The flow field in the reactor will not only affect the morphology of the ZnO nanorod⧹nanowire but also affect the pattern distribution of nanoarray on the electrode surface. Unlike the sectional structure from the traditional batch-type reactor, ZnO nanorods with finely-controlled length and uniform morphology could be grown from the continuous reactor. After optimization, the wire-shaped ZnO-type photoanode grown from the continuous reactor exhibited better photovoltaic performance than that from the traditional batch-type reactor.
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China.
Pan
P
Tao
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China.
Wanwan
W
Guo
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China.
Jun
J
Du
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China.
Changyuan
C
Tao
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China.
Shenglan
S
Qing
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, 400030 Chongqing, PR China. Electronic address: foxcqdx@cqu.edu.cn.
Xing
X
Fan
Continuous reactor; Wet process; Wire-shaped dye-sensitized solar cells; ZnO nanoarray