**5. Solar cells**

### **5.1 Advantages of ZnO NWs/NR arrays**

ZnO has a large bandgap (3.37 eV) *n*-type semiconductor which can be easily synthesized into large-scale arrayed 1D ZnO structures and the patterning of them. The facile synthesized property and its natural characteristics make ZnO NRs a widely used template material in the field of sensitized solar cells and preparing nanotubes.

The attractive characteristic of ZnO is the superior electron mobility, which is more than one magnitude order larger than that of the anatase titanium oxide, in all of the semiconductors with the wide bandgap which are taken as replacements of titanium oxide for the electron conductor. ZnO NR-based solar cells are promising devices for solar energy conversion. Because NRs have strong light absorption and rapid carrier collection, in addition they are inexpensive due to the cheap element and small amount of material needed. Compared to planar solar cells, NR photovoltaic devices have enhanced optical absorption due to three effects. ZnO NRs can reduce reflectivity, and the incoming light is captured and confined into guided modes which lead to concentration of the electromagnetic field inside the absorbing material. Moreover, the nanowire arrays support the light along a diffusive path leading to multiple scattering between the wires.

## **5.2 Excitonic solar cells**

Conventional solar cells are the silicon *p*-*n* junction type invented in the 1950s. Nevertheless, the cost of solar power is too high to be extended industrially. To reduce the cost, a great deal of research has been devoted to less expensive types of solar cell. One of the great promises is the emergence of excitonic solar cells. The difference between conventional and excitonic solar cells is that light absorption results in the formation of excitons in semiconductor materials rather than free electron-hole pairs. Excitonic solar cells consist of molecular semiconductor solar cells, conducting polymer solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) [77, 78], and quantum dot solar cells (QDSSCs) [79–82].

Among the different types of excitonic solar cells, the ZnO NR array is popular in the fields of DSSCs and QDSSCs. The dye-sensitized solar cell concept is on the basis of the dye optical excitation, and the conduction band with the metal oxide in the nanostructure wide bandgap is injected into an electron. At the beginning, a kind of the dyesensitized cell made of a dense array of oriented, crystalline ZnO NWs was researched and attained with a full sun efficiency of 1.5%. To increase the efficiency of such cells, researchers have adopted different methods such as using alternative sensitizers and redox electrolytes to fabricate solid-state or nonvolatile-liquid DSSCs. The new record power conversion efficiency (PCE) in DSCs is 7%, adopted with the synthesized multilayer assemblies of high-surface-area ZnO NWs to fabricate DSSCs [83, 84].

However, despite the successes of DSSCs, novel hybrids of the architectures of device and materials are still hunting to further enhance solar cell performance and cost. Quantum dots (QDs) are one possibility to substitute photosensitive dyes.

**63**

provided the original work is properly cited.

Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

\*Address all correspondence to: yeelikwok@yahoo.com

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

*Methodologies for Achieving 1D ZnO Nanostructures Potential for Solar Cells*

Compared to dye, the particle size of QDs can be tuned for adjusting their absorption spectrum to match the solar spectrum better. Also, the efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) device can be improved effectively by QDs which can make multiple electronhole pairs per photon. The maximum thermodynamic conversion efficiency of QDSSCs can theoretically reach 44% which is much higher than for DSSCs. In 2007, Aydil ES's group demonstrated ZnO NWs with CdSe QDs photosensitization and provided proof of QDs photogenerating electron transfer to the nanowires for the first time. They proved the possibility of QDs that demonstrated ZnO NWs providing a promising solar cell architecture [85]**.** Most reported values of ZnO NWs' QDSSCs (typically below 3%) are well below DSSCs (7%). With the time flying, more research on ZnO NWs' QDSSCs keeps forward with the higher efficiency. The performances of QDSSCs are typically limited by problems of aggregation, low QD loading density,

and high expense of synthesis to hinder its large-scale applications [86–88].

researched further along with the relevant detailed mechanism revelation.

Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of

ZnO being one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures is playing an increasingly crucial role in the developing nanoscience and nanotechnology. Due to its unique physical and chemical properties, 1D ZnO nanostructures can definitely enhance remarkably the efficacy in optical sensitivity, (photo)catalysis, mechanical strength, and (thermal and electrical) conductivity, which is beneficial to electronic and energy storage devices, sensors, advanced mechanical materials, and catalysts. Nowadays, the state-of-art resources of the renewable alternative energy with the cutting-edge techniques are urgent to be explored to make them to play the crucial role in the energy consumptions for the future along with the eco-friendly to benefits of the environment and technics, especially considering on the basis of taking an ideal candidate for the traditional energy resources. Solar energy is the radiant energy that is produced by the sun. In many parts of the world, the direct solar radiation is considered to be one of the best prospective sources of energy with the highlighted environmentally friendly benefits. Therefore, the deep insight into the properties of 1D ZnO nanostructures shall be explored more and coupled with the relevant techniques of solar cells. Meanwhile, the methodologies for achieving 1D ZnO nanostructures eco-friendly or green to the environments shall be also

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83618*

**6. Conclusion**

**Author details**

Yeeli Kelvii Kwok

*Methodologies for Achieving 1D ZnO Nanostructures Potential for Solar Cells DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83618*

Compared to dye, the particle size of QDs can be tuned for adjusting their absorption spectrum to match the solar spectrum better. Also, the efficiency of the photovoltaic (PV) device can be improved effectively by QDs which can make multiple electronhole pairs per photon. The maximum thermodynamic conversion efficiency of QDSSCs can theoretically reach 44% which is much higher than for DSSCs. In 2007, Aydil ES's group demonstrated ZnO NWs with CdSe QDs photosensitization and provided proof of QDs photogenerating electron transfer to the nanowires for the first time. They proved the possibility of QDs that demonstrated ZnO NWs providing a promising solar cell architecture [85]**.** Most reported values of ZnO NWs' QDSSCs (typically below 3%) are well below DSSCs (7%). With the time flying, more research on ZnO NWs' QDSSCs keeps forward with the higher efficiency. The performances of QDSSCs are typically limited by problems of aggregation, low QD loading density, and high expense of synthesis to hinder its large-scale applications [86–88].
