Ultra-high aspect ratio copper nanowires as transparent conductive electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells

Description

We report the synthesis of ultra-high aspect ratio copper nanowires (CuNW) and fabrication of CuNW-based transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) with high optical transmittance (> 80%) and excellent sheet resistance (R-s < 30 Omega/sq). These CuNW TCEs are subsequently hybridized with aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin-film coatings, or platinum thinfilm coatings, or nickel thin-film coatings. Our hybrid transparent electrodes can replace indium tin oxide (ITO) films in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as either anodes or cathodes. We highlight the challenges of integrating bare CuNWs into DSSCs, and demonstrate that hybridization renders the solar cell integrations feasible. The CuNW/AZO-based DSSCs have reasonably good open-circuit voltage (V-oc = 720 mV) and short-circuit current-density (J(sc) = 0.96 mA/cm(2)), which are comparable to what is obtained with an ITO-based DSSC fabricated with a similar process. Our CuNW-Ni based DSSCs exhibit a good open-circuit voltage (V-oc = 782 mV) and a decent short-circuit current (J(sc) = 3.96 mA/cm2), with roughly 1.5% optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency.

Links & Downloads

1. Zhaozhao Zhu ; Trent Mankowski ; Ali Sehpar Shikoh ; Farid Touati ; Mohieddine A. Benammar ; Masud Mansuripur and Charles M. Falco " Ultra-high aspect ratio copper nanowires as transparent conductive electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells ", Proc. SPIE 9936, Thin Films for Solar and Energy Technology VIII, 993603 (September 23, 2016); doi:10.1117/12.2237406; http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2237406
2. 0277-786X
3. 10.1117/12.2237406
4. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622550
5. http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/622550
6. THIN FILMS FOR SOLAR AND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY VIII

Tags

copper nanowires

nano-materials

dye-sensitized solar cells

transparent conductive electrodes

Additional Fields

Identifer	oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/622550
Date	23 September 2016
Creators	Zhu, Zhaozhao, Mankowski, Trent, Shikoh, Ali Sehpar, Touati, Farid, Benammar, Mohieddine A., Mansuripur, Masud, Falco, Charles M.
Contributors	Univ Arizona, Coll Opt Sci, College of Optical Sciences, The Univ. of Arizona (United States), College of Optical Sciences, The Univ. of Arizona (United States), Qatar Univ. (Qatar), Qatar Univ. (Qatar), Qatar Univ. (Qatar), College of Optical Sciences, The Univ. of Arizona (United States), College of Optical Sciences, The Univ. of Arizona (United States)
Publisher	SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING
Source Sets	University of Arizona
Language	English
Detected Language	English
Type	Article
Rights	© 2016 SPIE
Relation	http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding.aspx?doi=10.1117/12.2237406