| Summary: | In this study, pristine zinc oxide (ZnO) and tin doped zinc oxide (TZO) nanowires (NWs) had been synthesised on a fluorine doped tin oxide glass substrate via a microwave-assisted ultrasonic irradiation technique. This is a facile and rapid technique that combined ultrasonic irradiation technique during preparation of precursor solution with microwave assisted hydrothermal technique during synthesisation of nanowires. The ultrasonic irradiation technique helps to breakdown the agglomerated and large molecules inside the precursor solution mixture into smaller molecules. The microwave assisted technique helps to increase the temperature of the precursor solution from internal to external in shorter time through the increasing of interaction between molecules. It is important to produce a wide surface area of this material in the photoanode of dye-sensitive solar cells (DSSCs) configuration. Specifically, dye adsorption was an important aspect to grasp, as it can be reflected in the performance of the DSSC device. The concentrations of tin, Sn dopant were varied between 0.3 and 1.8 at.%. As-prepared ZnO and TZO NWs were analysed using field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Then, the samples that were soaked in N719 were analysed with ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectroscopy. The (002) peak of pristine ZnO was regressed, and the identified (100) and (101) peaks of ZnO were slightly shifted towards higher degrees after the addition of Sn dopants. The surface morphology of TZO NWs had displayed a more uniform transformation, with the smallest crystallite size at 51 ± 11 nm (0.9 at.%) due to the enhanced surface area. Unfortunately, it continued to degenerate for concentrations ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 at.%. Urbach energy analysis also suggested that the lowest defect at 0.9 at.% TZO (76 meV) produced the highest crystallinity with a less disorderly thin film. These properties had upheld the dye adsorption and trapping in the ZnO-based thin film. Thus, TZO NWs were the most promising candidates as photoanodes in DSSCs. © 2024, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved.
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