Type-II Core/Shell Nanowire Heterostructures and Their Photovoltaic Applications

Yiyan Cao,Shuping Li,Junyong Kang,Jianchao Ni,Kai Huang,Jing Li,Waseem A Bhutto,Zhiming Wu

doi:10.1007/bf03353704

Abstract

Abstract Nanowire-based photovoltaic devices have the advantages over planar devices in light absorption and charge transport and collection. Recently, a new strategy relying on type-II band alignment has been proposed to facilitate efficient charge separation in core/shell nanowire solar cells. This paper reviews the type-II heterojunction solar cells based on core/shell nanowire arrays, and specifically focuses on the progress of theoretical design and fabrication of type-II ZnO/ZnSe core/shell nanowire-based solar cells. A strong photoresponse associated with the type-II interfacial transition exhibits a threshold of 1.6 eV, which demonstrates the feasibility and great potential for exploring all-inorganic versions of type-II heterojunction solar cells using wide bandgap semiconductors. Future prospects in this area are also outlooked.

Highlights

In recent years, global energy issues and rapidly growing environmental concerns have become more and more imperative, and significant progresses have been made in the development of renewable energy technologies, such as solar cells, fuel cells, and biofuels
Compared with dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) or quantum dot-sensitized solar cell (QDSSC), core/shell nanowire solar cells have the advantages in light absorption, current transportation and charge separation [18,19,20,36]
Compared with QDSSCs, coaxial nanowire solar cells provide a larger type-II interfacial area, which is in favor of higher charge separation efficiency

Summary

Introduction

Global energy issues and rapidly growing environmental concerns have become more and more imperative, and significant progresses have been made in the development of renewable energy technologies, such as solar cells, fuel cells, and biofuels. Compared with DSSC or QDSSC, core/shell nanowire solar cells have the advantages in light absorption, current transportation and charge separation [18,19,20,36]. We will primary focus on the achievements, challenges, and prospects of typeII core/shell nanowire arrays (NWAs), with the emphasis on ZnO/ZnSe coaxial nanowire solar cell.

Results

Conclusion