World energy consumption is expected to rise by more than ~50% over the next two decades (2012-2040) [1].  In addition to the problem of releasing waste products into the environment, traditional fossil fuel energy sources are finite, so alternative energy sources such as wind, hydroelectric and solar PV-derived power are in increasing demand. Solar PV electricity is one of the most promising alternative energy sources because it converts light energy directly into electricity without any intermediate stage. It also does not require any cooling water systems, has no moving parts, requires little maintenance and is silent in operation. One of the additional advantages of solar power derived from solar cells, over wind-generated power is that solar cells do not pose a risk to airplanes or birds.

Since 1954, after the demonstration of the first commercially viable silicon solar cell by Bells Labs [2], researchers are vigorously working [3] in this booming renewable energy field to produce environmental friendly, low cost and high efficiency cells to meets ever-increasing world energy demand. After the introduction of new cell architecture in 1991 by Grätzel and O’Regan [4] for DSSC as a means of photon absorption and electron transportation, DSSC became a renowned field in the renewable energy research history. However, several factors in a typical TiO₂ (Titanium dioxide) nanoparticle based DSSC were limiting the cell efficiency and it was hard to handle, both the cost and efficiency, simultaneously in an industrial scale.

In this study, we will introduce a new cell architecture at Nano levels by replacing the TiO₂ with ZnO (Zinc Oxide) to overcome several difficulties encountered by a typical TiO₂ nanoparticle based DSSC. Our proposed cell design is working and the calculated cell efficiency was 0.002% which is quite low. However, the recorded open circuit voltage (V_OC) was 0.29V with a fill factor (FF) of 0.27. Additionally, the recorded current-voltage curve (IV curve) was very smooth without any fluctuations and the trend of the graph matched with our theoretical expectations. These preliminary results are promising and tuneable with our future expectations. Currently we are moving forward to optimize the cell design at Nano level with the goal of fabricating an environmental friendly, low cost and high efficiency next generation hybrid nanostructured photovoltaic solar cells.

Corresponding Authors: Haridas Kumarakuru, h.kumarakuru@neu.edu and Latika Menon, l.menon@neu.edu

REFERENCES:

       [1]. International Energy outlook 2016.  (U.S. Energy Information Administration, May 11, 2016 http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/ieo/world.html)

       [2]. D.M.Chapin, C.S.Fuller, and G.S.Pearson, J.Appl.Phys. 25 (1954) 676

       [3]. Martin A. Green, Keith Emery, Yoshihiro Hishikawa, Wilhelm Warta and Evan D. Dunlop, Progress in Photovoltaic, vol 24, issue 7 (2016) 905-913

       [4]. M. Gratzel, B. O’Regan, Nature, 353, (1991) 737 – 740