Rapid Thermal Annealing of ZnO Nanocrystalline Films for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Nanocrystalline ZnO thin films were prepared by the sol-gel method and annealed at 600 °C by conven- tional (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processes on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrates for application as the work electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). ZnO films were crystallized using a con- ventional furnace and the proposed RTA process at anneal- ing rates of 5 °C/min and 600 °C/min, respectively. The ZnO thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses. Based on the results, the ZnO thin films crystallized by the RTA process presented better crystallization than films crystallized in a conventional furnace. The ZnO films crystallized by RTA showed higher porosity and surface area than those prepared by CTA. The results show that the short-circuit photocur- rent (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) values increased from 4.38 mA/cm 2 and 0.55 V for the DSSC with the CTA- derived ZnO films to 5.88 mA/cm 2 and 0.61 V, respectively, for the DSSC containing the RTA-derived ZnO films.