Abstract
Highly uniform and vertically aligned p-type CuInSe2 (CISe) nanotube arrays were fabricated through a unique protocol, incorporating confined electrodeposition on lithographically patterned nanoelectrodes. This protocol can be readily adapted to fabricate nanotube arrays of other photoabsorber and functional materials with precisely controllable design parameters. Ternary CISe nanotube arrays were electrodeposited congruently from a single electrolytic bath and the resulting nanotube arrays were studied through powder X-ray diffraction as well as elemental analysis which revealed compositional purity. Detailed photoelectrochemical (PEC) characterizations in a liquid junction cell were also carried out to investigate the photoconversion efficiency. It was observed that the tubular geometry had a strong influence on the photocurrent response and a 29.9% improvement of the photoconversion efficiency was observed with the nanotube array compared to a thin film geometry fabricated by the same process. More interestingly such enhancement in photoconversion efficiency was obtained when the electrode coverage with the nanotube arrays as photoactive material was only a fraction (~10%) of that for the thin film device. Apart from enhancement in photoconversion efficiency, this versatile technique provides ample opportunities to study novel photovoltaic materials and device design architectures where structural parameters play a key role such as resonant light trapping.
Recommended Citation
W. P. Liyanage and M. Nath, "CuInSe₂ Nanotube Arrays for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion," Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, Nature Publishing Group, Dec 2019.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-53228-9
Department(s)
Chemistry
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2045-2322
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2019 The Authors, All rights reserved.
Creative Commons Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publication Date
01 Dec 2019
PubMed ID
31727916
Comments
The authors would like to acknowledge National Science Foundation, USA (NSF - 1531980) and University of Missouri Research Board for sponsoring this research and Materials Research Center for equipment usage.