The purpose of this study is to synthesize ZnO aggregate films using simple precipitation with polymer modification for linkage improvement of the ZnO photoelectrode. The starting materials of zinc acetate solution and ammonia solution were mixed under violent stirring conditions. A portion of the polymer (polyethylene glycol) was slowly added into the mixed solution to obtain the viscous ZnO precursor. The precursor was then coated onto a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate and annealed to form ZnO films. The scanning electron microscopy results revealed the formation of ZnO aggregates with flower-like microstructures. The appearance of Zn and O elements indicated a fair ZnO formation. The X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman shift confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure of the ZnO aggregates. For dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application, power conversion efficiency was enhanced because of the improved photovoltaic characteristics including the open-circuit voltage, fill factor, series resistance, shunt resistances and recombination resistance, perhaps, due to the large particle size of the ZnO aggregates and their flower-like microstructures. The flower-like microstructure likely acts as a bridge to link each ZnO particle. The flower-like microstructure plays the role of an express pathway in electron transport in the DSSC. Therefore, the ZnO aggregation with a flower-like microstructure has the potential to improve the electron transport for efficiency enhancement of a DSSC.
Precipitation of clustered ZnO nanoparticles was performed from low-cost starting materials. Morphological and particle size analyses show the cluster formation accumulating with nanoparticles. Chemical composition detection refers the ZnO formation. Hexagonal wurtzite structures are confirmed with low crystal size, high dislocation density, and spherical growth. Optical band gap shows red shift affecting to low required activating energy for photocatalytic activity. Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange and glyphosate presents degradation rate constants of 3.28×10-3 min-1 and 2.45×10-3 min-1 , respectively, which is caused by the synergy of small particle size, small crystal size, high dislocation density, and low optical band gap. Therefore, clustered ZnO nanoparticles were demonstrated as a potential photocatalytic material for the decomposition of methyl orange and glyphosate.
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