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Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on Vertical ZnO Nanowire Arrays

Sheng Chu1, Dongdong Li1,2, Pai-Chun Chang1 and Jia G Lu1*

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0484, USA

2 Division of Energy and Environmental Research, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201203, China

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Nanoscale Res Lett 2011, 6:38 doi:10.1007/s11671-010-9804-x

Published: 26 September 2010

Abstract

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells are fabricated using vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays that are transferred onto ITO-coated poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrates using a simple peel-off process. The solar cells demonstrate an energy conversion efficiency of 0.44% with good bending tolerance. This technique paves a new route for building large-scale cost-effective flexible photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices.

Keywords:
ZnO nanowires; Vertical alignment; Peel off; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Flexible electronics