Neck of sintered nanostructured oxides in a mesoporous oxide film as a photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells is very important in terms of transport and life time of electrons in the conduction band of the oxide. In this study, we investigate variations in charge transport properties such as charge transport resistance and electron life time when hierarchical ZnO rod aggregates experience different sintering behaviors, inducing different necking behaviors among the oxides. As ZnO is a sensitive oxide to annealing, it was observed that the increase in annealing temperature from 200 �C to 450 �C causes shape change from rod to sphere as well as neck growth resulting from densification. SEM, EIS, IMPS and IMVS are used to characterize different sintering behaviors and charge transport properties of the ZnO rod aggregates annealed at different temperatures and we present the relationship between cross-sectioned area of the neck and charge transport properties.

Charge transport properties in ZnO-based photoelecttrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells with different heat-treatment

241st National Meeting (2011)

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