Optical Characterization of Nanostructured Semiconductor Materials for Photovoltaic Applications

PEREYRA, C. JAVIER; CAMPO, L; NAVARRETE-ASTORGA, E.; ROMERO, R. ; SOLÍS-CORTÉS, D. ; JAUREGUI, G.; GAU, D. L.; HENRÍQUEZ, R. A. R. E. MAROTTI; MUÑOZ, E.; MARTÍN, F.; RAMOS-BARRADO, J R.; BERRUET, M.; DI IORIO, Y.; VAZQUEZ, M.; ARIOSA, A. ; DALCHIELE, E. A.; MAROTTI, R.E.

brasil

Conferencia; XIX Brazilian Materials Research Society Meeting; 2021

Brazil MRS Meeting

Due to their interesting properties, Semiconductor Materials are extensively studied, for their potential application in energy conversion devices. The Nanostructured nature of the samples and materials allows the formation of different sample morphologies which exhibit very different properties. The optical properties are fundamental to achieve good performances in optoelectronic devices, biosensors, solar cells and antireflective coatings among other applications. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is a wide bandgap semiconductor with a direct bandgap of about 3.37 eV, it has the ability to form different nanostructures arrays and is commonly used as transparent conductive oxide in solar cells among other applications.In this work the optical properties of different ZnO nanorod arrays (NRs) and nanostructures are studied. Particularly the light interaction in the 350-800 nm range was studied by total and diffuse transmittance and reflectance. The light management capability of these structures was evaluated by measurements of the antireflective and light scattering capability of these arrays. As ZnO is a transparent semiconductor, for solar cell applications ZnO must be sensitized to achieve high solar light absorption. The sensitization of these arrays is commonly done with other semiconductor nanoparticles. Particularly, ZnO NRs arrays sensitized with CdS and Ag2S NPs are also studied [1-2]. Finally the influence of ZnO NRs arrays into the charge dynamic of solar cells is also discussed. The charge carrier dynamic was evaluated by Intensity Modulated Photovoltage and Photocurrent Spectroscopy. An enhancement in the charge carrier collection efficiency was observed for the cell with the NR additional layer [3].