Synthesis of ZnO Nanowires and Their Photovoltaic Application: ZnO Nanowires/AgGaSeThin Film Core-Shell Solar Cell

In this investigation, hydrothermal technique was employed for the synthesis of well-aligned dense arrays of ZnO nanowires (NWs) on a wide range of substrates including silicon, soda-lime glass (SLG), indium tin oxide, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Results showed that ZnO NWs can be successfully grown on any substrate that can withstand the growth temperature (90°C) and precursor solution chemicals. Results also revealed that there was a strong impact of growth time and ZnO seed layer deposition route on the orientation, density, diameter, and uniformity of the synthesized nanowires. A core-shell n-ZnO NWs/p-AgGaSe(AGS) thin film solar cell was fabricated as a device application of synthesized ZnO nanowires by decoration of nanowires with 700 nm thick sputtering deposited AGS thin film layer, which demonstrated an energy conversion efficiency of 1.74% under 100 mW/cm² of simulated solar illumination.