ZnO nanowires for solar cells: a comprehensive review

Abstract

As an abundant and non-toxic wide band gap semiconductor with a high electron mobility, ZnO in the form of nanowires has emerged as an important electron transporting material in a vast number of nanostructured solar cells. ZnO nanowires are grown by low-cost chemical deposition techniques and their integration into solar cells presents, in principle, significant advantages including efficient optical absorption through light trapping phenomena and enhanced charge carrier separation and collection. However, they also raise some significant issues related to the control of the interface properties and to the technological integration. The present review is intended to report a detailed analysis of the state-of-the-art of all types of nanostructured solar cells integrating ZnO nanowires, including extremely thin absorber solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, organic and hybrid solar cells, as well as halide perovskite-based solar cells.

Facile, wafer-scale compatible growth of ZnO nanowires via chemical bath deposition: assessment of zinc ion contribution and other limiting factors

“…The wurtzite structure of ZnO has a large direct band gap ($3.3 eV) at room temperature and a large exciton binding energy ($60 meV). The excellent optical and electronic properties of ZnO, are considered the building blocks for many optoelectronic devices, [1][2][3] such as light emitting diodes, 4,5 ultraviolet lasers, 6 chemical sensors, 7 solar cells 8 and more recently photocatalysts [9][10][11] as well as water purication. 12 ZnO also plays a role as an alternative to conventional methods for removing dye pollutants from water; this has been recently shown by M. Zhang et al 13 This is mainly due to the fact that absorption of light covers a larger fraction of the UV spectrum and it absorbs more light quanta in comparison to TiO 2 .…”

Arrays Formation of Zinc Oxide Nano-Objects with Varying Morphology for Sensor Applications

“…For example, sensors that are based on nanoelements provide an increase in the selectivity and a lower energy consumption. In addition to the manufacturing of gas and liquid sensors, ZnO is increasingly applied for ultraviolet lasers and Light-emitting diodes production, as well as for the manufacture of piezoelectric devices, scintillators, solar cells, and others [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Among the feasible technical implementations of these structures are metal/oxide layered materials that present great interest as functional electro-contact materials.…”

[(C8H17)4N]4[SiW12O40] (TASiW‐12)‐Modified SnO2 Electron Transport Layer for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

“…However, these applications were restricted by limited electron mobility (0.14 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ) and required high processing temperatures greater than 500 °C, [ 36 ] and insufficient charge separation at the TiO 2 interface was also confirmed. [ 37,38 ] Compared to TiO 2 , low‐temperature processed ZnO exhibits a much higher mobility (205–300 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ); [ 39 ] however, perovskite films deposited on ZnO are extremely sensitive to the atmosphere due to the —OH functional group residual and dangling bonds in ZnO that are prone to decompose the perovskite layer. [ 40 ] SnO 2 has been proven to possess better chemical stability and band alignment with perovskite in low‐temperature processing (<180 °C).…”