Developing dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology by exploiting different alternative semiconductors has attracted research attentions. Among all types of semiconductors, ZnO nanostructures due to their unique electrical properties and the facile preparation of various morphologies, have considered as the promising materials for application in DSSCs. In the present study, DC magnetron sputtering method was utilized to prepare a ZnO thin film as an efficient alternative for TiCl₄ pre-treatment to suppress the charge recombination process occurring at a conventional TiO₂-based DSSC. Different thicknesses of ZnO seed layers on fluorine tin oxide conductive glass substrates (FTO) were prepared via various sputtering deposition times. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were utilized to study the surface uniformity and crystallinity of the ZnO nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were employed to investigate the photoanode interface properties via determination of the electron lifetime and density of electron in conduction band. The results demonstrated that the thickness of ZnO compact layer which either acts as electron trapping states or blocking layer has the important role in cell performance. Finally, by the optimum thickness of ZnO thin film, the highest efficiency was achieved at 5.1%.

通过利用不同的替代半导体来开发染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）技术引起了研究关注。在所有类型的半导体中，ZnO纳米结构因其独特的电性能和易于制备的各种形态而被认为是可用于DSSC的有前途的材料。在本研究中，利用直流磁控溅射法制备了ZnO薄膜，作为TiCl ₄预处理的有效替代方法，以抑制常规TiO _2上发生的电荷复合过程。基于DSSC。通过各种溅射沉积时间，在氟氧化锡导电玻璃基板（FTO）上制备了不同厚度的ZnO晶种层。利用场发射扫描电子显微镜（FE-SEM）和X射线衍射（XRD）分析来研究ZnO纳米结构的表面均匀性和结晶度。循环伏安法（CV）和电化学阻抗谱（EIS）技术用于通过确定电子寿命和导带中电子的密度来研究光阳极的界面特性。结果表明，充当电子俘获态或阻挡层的ZnO致密层的厚度在电池性能中起着重要作用。最后，通过最佳厚度的ZnO薄膜，可以达到5.1％的最高效率。