Comparative study of the properties of TiO2 nanoflower and TiO2-ZnO composite nanoflower and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

We report the comparative study of TiO 2 nanoflower (NF) and TiO 2 -ZnO composite NF in terms of properties and dye-sensitized solar cell performances. TiO 2 NF has been constructed by using the simple liquid phase deposition (LPD) method while TiO 2 -ZnO composite NF was prepared by using dip-coating method in which the as-prepared TiO 2 NF was immersed into ZnO growth solution. The power conversion efficiency of the DSSC utilizingTiO 2 -ZnO composite NF is higher (0.62 ± 0.02%) compared to TiO 2 NF (0.17 ± 0.10%) due to higher photon absorption, dye loading, R cr, and longer electron life time than those of TiO 2 NF.