Photoelectrochemical study on the electron transport and recombination kinetics in an urchin-like Zn/ZnO hierarchical nanostructure

Electron transport and recombination kinetics in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on an urchin-like Zn/ZnO heterostructure are characterized by the intensity modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy (IMPS/IMVS), and a dynamic IMVS model correlating to the unique urchin-like configuration is developed for the first time. Intriguingly, the photoanodes with different micromorphology and microstructure generated by tuning the annealing time, show significant discrepancies in electron transport, recombination and charge collection. The photoelectrochemical study reveals that the electron transport properties are closely related with ZnO/electrolyte/dye interface and the metal/metal oxide Schottky junction nanostructure.