The structure, morphology, and optoelectronic properties of silicon nanowires decorated with GaN and Ag for single nanowire solar cell applications

Abstract

This study focuses on the synthesis of a single Si-nanowire solar cell decorated with gallium nitride and silver nanoplasmons. The Si-nanowires were grown using the CVD approach followed by the decoration of their surfaces with GaN and Ag using a polyol approach. The structure of the developed GaN@Si and Ag@Si core/shell quantum wires was studied using X-ray diffraction. The morphology was investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The oxidation states were emphasized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The GaN and Ag nanoplasmons cause a modulation of the bandgap energy of the Si NWs. The growth of GaN and Ag nanoplasmons on the surface of Si nanowires increases the charge carrier density, photocurrent, and optical hole mobility. The plasmonic Ag nanoparticles suppress the nonlinear optical susceptibility of the Si nanowire compared to GaN-decorated Si NWs. The combination of quantum confinement and plasmonic effects of the proposed Ag@Si heterostructure nanowires offers great energy absorption and highly efficient separation of photogenerated electron/hole pairs. The developed single Ag@Si nanowire heterostructure exhibits photoconversion efficiency larger than GaN@Si NWs by one order of magnitude and larger than the un-decorated Si nanowires by 20-fold.