Wire-supported CdSe nanowire array photoelectrochemical solar cells

Luhui Zhang; Enzheng Shi; Zhen Li; Peixu Li; Yi Jia; Chunyan Ji; Jinquan Wei; Kunlin Wang; Hongwei Zhu; Dehai Wu; Anyuan Cao

doi:10.1039/C2CP00024E

Wire-supported CdSe nanowire array photoelectrochemical solar cells†

Luhui Zhang,^a Enzheng Shi,^a Zhen Li,^b Peixu Li,^b Yi Jia,^b Chunyan Ji,^a Jinquan Wei,^b Kunlin Wang,^b Hongwei Zhu,^b Dehai Wu^b and Anyuan Cao*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China
E-mail: anyuan@pku.edu.cn

^b Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P. R. China

Abstract

Previous fiber-shaped solar cells are based on polymeric materials or dye-sensitized wide band-gap oxides. Here, we show that efficient fiber solar cells can be made from semiconducting nanostructures (e.g.CdSe) with smaller band-gap as the light absorption material. We directly grow a vertical array of CdSe nanowires uniformly around a core metal wire and make the device by covering the top of nanowires with a carbon nanotube (CNT) film as the porous transparent electrode. The CdSe–CNT fiber solar cells show power conversion efficiencies of 1–2% under AM 1.5 illumination after the nanowires are infiltrated with redox electrolyte. We do not use a secondary metal wire (e.g.Pt) as in conventional fiber-shaped devices, instead, the end part of the CNT film is condensed into a conductive yarn to serve as the secondary electrode. In addition, our CdSe nanowire-based photoelectrochemical fiber solar cells maintain good flexibility and stable performance upon rotation and bending to large angles.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Wire-supported CdSe nanowire array photoelectrochemical solar cells†

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