Effects of heat treatment on the dye adsorption of ZnO nanorods for dye-sensitized solar cells

Well-aligned ZnO nanorods for the photoelectrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were grown via a sonochemical method, and the heat-treatment effects on the dye adsorption in the DSSCs were studied. The heat treatment of well-aligned ZnO nanorods was performed at 200 ∼ 500 °C for 1 h, which was immediately followed by the dye adsorption. The dye amounts adsorbed in the ZnO nanorods were estimated from the UV-Vis absorbance by using Beer-Lambert’s law. The efficiency of the DSSCs with ZnO nanorods was measured to investigate the heat-treatment effects of ZnO nanorods on the dye adsorption properties. The heat-treatment of ZnO nanorods was found to yield a change in their dye adsorption ability, resulting in a change in the efficiency of the DSSCs.