The fabrication of an upright-standing zinc oxide nanosheet for use in dye-sensitized solar cells

Films with upright-standing zinc oxide nanosheet for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) were fabricated by overcoming the thermodynamic restriction. Layered hydroxide zinc carbonate (LHZC) sheets were grown perpendicular to the surface of a glass substrate starting from nucleation. The porous ZnO film fabricated by pyrolysis of the LHZC film was oriented to the c-axis parallel to the substrate. The DSC's prepared using these upright-standing ZnO nanosheet films exhibited a very high conversion efficiency of 3.9%, similar to the DSC made of ZnO electrodes, which is about the highest efficiency level of ZnO DSCs.