Abstract
Nanocrystalline ZnO flakes were synthesized via solution process using zinc acetate and diethylamine under refluxing at 85 degrees C for 4 hrs. The crystalline and wurtzite hexagonal phase of the synthesized ZnO flakes were characterized by UV-visible, FTIR and Raman-scattering. For the photovoltaic device applications, the ZnO flakes were used as photo-anode materials to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The fabricated DSSC exhibited an overall light to electricity conversion efficiency (eta) of 0.99%. A short-circuit current (J(sc)) of 2.33 mA/cm(2), open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of 0.670 V and fill factor (FE) of 0.59, was achieved from the fabricated nanocrystalline ZnO flakes based DSSCs.