Synthesis of one-dimentional nanostructures for gas sensing and photovoltaic applications

In this work, three-dimensional (3-D) p-n junctions were formed for the fabrication of field ionization gas sensors and solar cells. P-Si micro-pillars/ZnO NWs, n-TiO2-nanorod/p-CdTe and n-Si-NW/p-CuInSe₂(CIS) material combinations were preferred for the construction of p-n hetero-junction solar cells. Vertically well-aligned Si NWs were synthesized over the surface of n-type silicon wafer by using electroless etching technique. The synthesized Si-NWs embedded into a sputter deposited mono-phase chalcopyrite thin film (CIS) for the realization of nanowire array embedded in thin film type inorganic solar cell, which exhibited a 1.51% power conversion efficiency. In addition to Si nanowires, high aspect ratio vertically well-oriented p-silicon micropillars (MPs) were also synthesized using deep reactive ion Etching (DRIE) process with the BOSCH recipe of cyclical passivation and etching. Three-dimensional (3D) p-Si-MPs/n-ZnO-NWs heterostructures were constructed from hydrothermally grown dense arrays of ZnO nanowires onto these p-type silicon micropillars. The device structures were tested for both the field ionization gas sensor and photovoltaic applications, which showed very promising results. As a final part of this study, TiO₂ nanorods (NRs) were grown on FTO glass substrates by using hydrothermal technique, which is sequentially coated with CdTe thin film (sputtering) and subjected to CdCl₂ chemical solution treatment to fabricate a core-shell model solar cell with a power conversion efficiency over 0.4% power conversion efficiency.