Investigating the photoelectrochemistry of transparent ZnO grown on ITO/plastic for flexible photoelectrochemical cell and photovoltaic application

Abstract

ZnO was electrochemically grown on ITO coated polyethylene (PET) substrate. By sandwiching the electrolyte (sodium para-toluene sulfonate) with so grown ZnO/ITO/PET substrate with another ITO/Plastic substrate, a transparent ZnO based flexible PV cells was fabricated. The efficiency of 0.3% was obtained when shined under UV light. It was concluded that there will be a significant trade-off between with its performance although the optical transparency is very attractive. © 2012 Materials Research Society