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Nitrogen and silver codoped one-dimensional ZnO nanostructure for optoelectronic application

  • Original Paper: Nano-structured materials (particles, fibers, colloids, composites, etc.)
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Abstract

In the present work, fabrication and optoelectronic application of nitrogen and silver codoped ZnO nanorod structure have been reported. The synthesized samples were used as photoanodes of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The as-prepared samples were characterized for structural, optical, morphological, and photovoltaic properties. The XRD spectra showed good crystallinity of all the samples. Optical study revealed the fact that doping has reduced the bandgap of the as-prepared samples. FESEM images confirmed the formation of nanorod structures with a diameter of ~50 nm. The efficiency of DSSC prepared by doped ZnO photoanodes has been increased up to 5.105% as compared with 0.707% for undoped/pure ZnO nanorod-based DSSC. This increase is due to reduced recombination of charge carriers and hence increased value of short-circuit current density caused by nitrogen and silver codoping.

Highlights

  • Chemical solution method is used to synthesize N and Ag codoped one-dimensional nanostructure.

  • Application of prepared samples as photoanodes for one of the optoelectronic applications, i.e., DSSC.

  • Improvement in the short-circuit current and efficiency of DSSC after doping.

  • Doping of N and Ag resulted in the increased number of photogenerated charge carriers and reduced the recombination rate of charge carriers.

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Acknowledgements

This research work has been supported by Grant No. SR/WOS-A/ET-1068 2015(G) from DST, New Delhi, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Science, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, 136119, India

    Monika Kumari, Virender Singh Kundu, Suresh Kumar, Sonia Siwatch & Nikhil Chauhan

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  1. Monika Kumari
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  2. Virender Singh Kundu
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Correspondence to Monika Kumari or Virender Singh Kundu.

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Kumari, M., Kundu, V.S., Kumar, S. et al. Nitrogen and silver codoped one-dimensional ZnO nanostructure for optoelectronic application. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 93, 302–308 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05129-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05129-6

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