Abstract

Azinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle has been synthesized using seed mediated method at a low temperature of 90 degrees C. To understand its optical, structural and morphological properties of as-synthesized ZnO, it was characterized using various analytical techniques. The obtained result reveals that ZnO nanoparticles possess hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with an average crystallite size of similar to 40 nm. The presence of hydroxyl, amine and alkyl groups was confirmed from Fourier transform infrared analysis. Furthermore, the synthesized ZnO powder has employed as photoanode for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells using Doctor-blade technique. To evaluate its photo-conversion efficiency, the device has been assembled into a cell module and illuminated with the light intensity of 100 mW cm(-2). The device exhibits the photo-conversion efficiency of 1.85% with the current density of 4.532 mA cm(-2) and voltage of 0.61 V.