Effect of Ammonia and Zinc Acetate Precursor Concentration on the Morphology of ZnO Nanorods and the Performance of a ZnO Photoelectrochemical Cell

The performance of photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) depends on the morphology of quasi zinc oxide nanorods (NRs) that were influenced by the concentration of ammonia and zinc acetate precursors in growth reaction. The quasi-NRs shape becomes more rounded, fatter and highly compact film with the increase in the ammonia concentration. Meanwhile, the diameter and thickness of the quasi-NRs decrease with ammonia concentration in the range 36 mM to 360 mM, corresponding to the diameter in the range 30 to 18 nm and the thickness in the range 97 to 87 nm, respectively. The PEC utilizing ZnO nanorod produced from these various ammonia concentrations reveals that the photovoltaic parameters increase with ammonia concentration. The best Jsc was 0.2mA cm-2 obtained at 360mM ammonia. The morphology in terms of diameter and length of ZnO nanorod also changes with zinc acetate concentration. The diameter and thickness of the quasi-NRs decrease with zinc acetate concentration in the range 10 to 30 mM corresponding to the diameter in the range 18 to 40 nm and the thickness in the range 87 to 110 nm, respectively. The PEC utilizing ZnO nanorod prepared from these various zinc acetate concentrations reveals that the best Jsc of 0.2 mA cm-2 was obtained at 20 mM zinc salt corresponding to the diameter of 27 nm and thickness of 110 nm, respectively.