ABSTRACT
The world’s energy demands will grow with increasing standards of living and economic growth. The energy crisis has become a serious issue with the consumption of oil reserves; however, most current energy consumption from oil reserves has caused serious environmental pollution problems. This chapter demonstrates that a well-crystallized, high-density, and high specific surface area of Li-doped ZnO (Li-ZnO) nanoforest photoanodes can increase power conversion efficiency substantially. The hierarchically branched Li-ZnO nanoforest thin films could easily be grown in a large area using a low-cost, multistep hydrothermal process. The quality of the Li-ZnO nanoforests has been characterized by Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Light harvesting can be enhanced by scattering enhancement and trapping because of the random Li-ZnO nanotree multigeneration branches. The chapter suggests that the photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell based on nanoforest photoanodes could be further improved if the single-crystal structure of second-generation nanofibers can be prepared successfully.
