Optimised synthesis of close packed ZnO cloth and its applications in Li-ion batteries and dye-sensitized solar cells

• Published in: Frontiers of Optoelectronics (Online) Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 220 - 228
• Main Authors: Qian, Yue, Liu, Rong, Jin, Xiujuan, Liu, Bin, Wang, Xianfu, Xu, Jin, Wang, Zhuoran, Chen, Gui, Chao, Junfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Higher Education Press 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Physics; Research Article; ZnO; 优化合成; 应用; 扫描电子显微镜; 染料敏化太阳能电池; 氧化锌纳米颗粒; 紧密堆积; 锂离子电池; lithium-ion batteries (LIBs); ZnO nanoparticles; carbon cloth; dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs); facile hydrothermal route
• ISSN: 2095-2759; 2095-2767
• DOI: 10.1007/s12200-015-0490-2

Close packed ZnO nanoparticles on carbon cloth were synthesized by repeating a facile hydrothermal route in this study. After characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, the obtained ZnO cloth was further studied for the applications in lithium （Li）-ion batteries （LIBs） and dye-sensitized solar cells （DSSCs）. When ZnO cloth annealed at 400℃ for 2 h were used as anodes of LIBs, it exhibited high capacity of 600mAh/g and outstanding cycling capability without significant fading after 130 cycles. Moreover, it was also found that our electrodes displayed good stabilities under various humidity and temperature. Furthermore, the obtained composites were calcined at higher temperature （800℃） to remove carbon and white pure ZnO cloth was formed. We transferred the as-formed ZnO cloth to fluorine-doped tin oxide （FTO） substrate to make DSSCs, exhibiting an improved efficiency of around 0.38% assisted by TiC14 treatment.