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Solution-processed core–shell nanowires for efficient photovoltaic cells

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 568–572 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Semiconductor nanowires are promising for photovoltaic applications1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, but, so far, nanowire-based solar cells have had lower efficiencies than planar cells made from the same materials6,7,8,9,10,12,13, even allowing for the generally lower light absorption of nanowires. It is not clear, therefore, if the benefits of the nanowire structure, including better charge collection and transport14 and the possibility of enhanced absorption through light trapping4,15, can outweigh the reductions in performance caused by recombination at the surface of the nanowires and at p–n junctions. Here, we fabricate core–shell nanowire solar cells with open-circuit voltage and fill factor values superior to those reported for equivalent planar cells, and an energy conversion efficiency of ∼5.4%, which is comparable to that of equivalent planar cells despite low light absorption levels16. The device is made using a low-temperature solution-based cation exchange reaction17,18,19,20,21 that creates a heteroepitaxial junction between a single-crystalline CdS core and single-crystalline Cu2S shell. We integrate multiple cells on single nanowires in both series and parallel configurations for high output voltages and currents, respectively. The ability to produce efficient nanowire-based solar cells with a solution-based process and Earth-abundant elements22,23,24 could significantly reduce fabrication costs relative to existing high-temperature bulk material approaches.

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Figure 1: Structural characterization of CdS and CdS–Cu2S core–shell nanowires.
Figure 2: Fabrication and characterization of CdS–Cu2S core–shell nanowire PV devices.
Figure 3: SPCM of a core–shell nanowire.
Figure 4: Multiple PV units on a single nanowire, in series and in parallel.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the US Department of Energy (contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231). The work on devices integrated in parallel and in series was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, contract no. 0832819). The authors thank the National Center for Electron Microscopy for use of their facilities.

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  1. Jinyao Tang and Ziyang Huo: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Jinyao Tang, Ziyang Huo, Sarah Brittman, Hanwei Gao & Peidong Yang

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Peidong Yang

  3. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Jinyao Tang, Ziyang Huo, Sarah Brittman, Hanwei Gao & Peidong Yang

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  1. Jinyao Tang
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Contributions

J.T., Z.H. and P.Y. conceived and designed the experiments. J.T. fabricated the devices and performed the measurements. Z.H. collected and analysed the TEM images. S.B. was responsible for the scanning photocurrent mapping. H.G. provided the simulation results. J.T., Z.H. and P.Y. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Peidong Yang.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Tang, J., Huo, Z., Brittman, S. et al. Solution-processed core–shell nanowires for efficient photovoltaic cells. Nature Nanotech 6, 568–572 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.139

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