Fabrication and characterization of ZnO nanowires/CdSe/CuSCN eta-solar cell

ZnO/CdSe/CuSCN extremely thin absorber (eta)-solar cells based oil ZnO nanowires have been successfully realized using easily accessible electrochemical and solution deposition techniques. An n-type ZnO film consisting of free-standing single crystal nanowires several microns high and 100-200 nm in diameter was-deposited oil a conducting glass (SnO2:F) substrate covered by a thin spray pyrolysis ZnO electronic blocking layer. A 30-40-nm-thin layer of CdSe absorber was electrodeposited, coating the ZnO nanowires. The voids between the ZnO/CdSe nanowires were filled with p-type CuSCN; the entire assembly formed a p-i-n junction. The ZnO/CdSe nanowire layer exhibited a high light-trapping effect, with all effective absorbance of similar to 89% and effective reflectance of similar to 8% in the 400-800 nm region of the solar spectrum (AM 1.5). The effects of an annealing process on the Use grain size and on the energy conversion efficiency of the eta-solar cell have been analyzed. The obtained efficiencies, for cells with annealed CdSe (1.5-2.3%) show that the ZnO/CdSe/CuSCN nano-heterostructure is an interesting option for developing new solar cell devices. To cite this article: R. Tena-Zaera et al., CR. Chimie 9 (2006). (C) 2005 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.