Abstract
Increasing the light absorption across the wide solar spectrum has important implications for applications in solar-thermal and photovoltaic energy conversion. Here, we report novel tandem structures combing two different materials with complementary optical properties and microstructures: copper oxide (CuO) nanowires (NWs) and cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoparticles (NPs). Copper oxide NWs of 100–200nm in diameter and 5µm long are grown thermally on copper foil in air and cobalt oxide NPs of 100–200nm in diameter are synthesized hydrothermally. Tandem structures of spectrally selective coating (SSC) layer are built with three different methods: spray-coating, dip-coating of cobalt oxide NPs into copper oxide NWs forest, and transferring of copper oxide NWs layer onto cobalt oxide NPs layer. The tandem-structured SSC layers fabricated from the spray-coating, dip-coating and transferring methods exhibit figure of merit (FOM) values of 0.875, 0.892 and 0.886, respectively, which are significantly higher than that of the starting copper oxide NWs (FOM=0.858) and cobalt oxide NPs (FOM=0.853). Our results demonstrate the efficacy of using novel tandem structures for enhanced light absorption of solar spectrum, which will find broad applications in solar energy conversion.
Accepted Version (
Free)
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
