Flexible solar cells based on CdSe nanobelt/graphene Schottky junctions

Flexible solar cells have attracted intense interest since they have potential for the construction of portable and wearable power sources. We fabricated CdSe nanobelt (NB)/graphene Schottky junction flexible solar cells on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates for the first time. The solar cells have an excellent rectification behavior in the dark with a typical on/off current ratio of about 2 × 105. Under air mass (AM) 1.5 global (1.5G) illumination, the solar cells exhibit good photovoltaic (PV) behavior, with a typical open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current density (Jsc), and fill factor (FF) of about 0.31 V, 4.73 mA cm−2, and 36.14%, respectively. The corresponding energy conversion efficiency (η) is about 0.53%. Under bending conditions, the performance of the solar cells does not change obviously. We attribute the satisfactory performance of the flexible solar cells to the ingenious nanomaterials and Schottky junction device structures employed. Our work shows that the semiconductor NBs (NWs) and graphene are promising building blocks for future flexible devices and the CdSe NB/graphene Schottky junction solar cells have potential applications in flexible nano-optoelectronic systems.

[1]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Coaxial silicon nanowires as solar cells and nanoelectronic power sources , 2007, Nature.

[2]  Ronn Andriessen,et al.  ITO-free flexible organic solar cells with printed current collecting grids , 2011 .

[3]  D. Ginley,et al.  Photovoltaic devices with a low band gap polymer and CdSe nanostructures exceeding 3% efficiency. , 2010, Nano letters.

[4]  Wei Wang,et al.  Transparent, Double‐Sided, ITO‐Free, Flexible Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Metal Wire/ZnO Nanowire Arrays , 2012 .

[5]  Bozhi Tian,et al.  Single and tandem axial p-i-n nanowire photovoltaic devices. , 2008, Nano letters.

[6]  Hidetoshi Miura,et al.  Application of highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays in flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, ACS nano.

[7]  Jong-Hyun Ahn,et al.  All graphene-based thin film transistors on flexible plastic substrates. , 2012, Nano letters.

[8]  Xiaolin Zheng,et al.  Fabrication of flexible and vertical silicon nanowire electronics. , 2012, Nano letters.

[9]  G. Qin,et al.  A simple and scalable graphene patterning method and its application in CdSe nanobelt/graphene Schottky junction solar cells. , 2010, Nanoscale.

[10]  Seok‐In Na,et al.  Efficient and Flexible ITO‐Free Organic Solar Cells Using Highly Conductive Polymer Anodes , 2008 .

[11]  Bin Yu,et al.  Impurity-dependent photoresponse properties in single CdSe nanobelt photodetectors. , 2011, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[12]  Hongwei Zhu,et al.  Carbon nanotube and CdSe nanobelt Schottky junction solar cells. , 2010, Nano letters.

[13]  Jong-Hyun Ahn,et al.  Wafer-scale synthesis and transfer of graphene films. , 2009, Nano letters.

[14]  R. Ma,et al.  Synthesis of High Quality n-type CdSe Nanobelts and Their Applications in Nanodevices , 2009 .

[15]  Zhiwei Gao,et al.  Self-powered flexible and transparent photovoltaic detectors based on CdSe nanobelt/graphene Schottky junctions. , 2013, Nanoscale.

[16]  R. Ma,et al.  Schottky junction photovoltaic devices based on CdS single nanobelts , 2009, Nanotechnology.

[17]  Z. Zhong,et al.  Wafer scale homogeneous bilayer graphene films by chemical vapor deposition. , 2010, Nano letters.

[18]  P. Kamat,et al.  A CdSe Nanowire/Quantum Dot Hybrid Architecture for Improving Solar Cell Performance , 2010 .

[19]  Fei Wang,et al.  High-performance single CdS nanowire (nanobelt) Schottky junction solar cells with Au/graphene Schottky electrodes. , 2010, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[20]  Yu Huang,et al.  Indium phosphide nanowires as building blocks for nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices , 2001, Nature.

[21]  Hongwei Zhu,et al.  Graphene-CdSe nanobelt solar cells with tunable configurations , 2011 .

[22]  Z. Zhong,et al.  Flexible and transparent all-graphene circuits for quaternary digital modulations. , 2012, Nature communications.

[23]  Cherie R. Kagan,et al.  Flexible, low-voltage, and low-hysteresis PbSe nanowire field-effect transistors. , 2011, ACS nano.

[24]  Z. Liao,et al.  Photovoltaic effect and charge storage in single ZnO nanowires , 2008 .

[25]  Po-Jen Cheng,et al.  High-performance large-scale flexible dye-sensitized solar cells based on anodic TiO2 nanotube arrays. , 2013, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[26]  Guo-Qiang Lo,et al.  High-bendability flexible dye-sensitized solar cell with a nanoparticle-modified ZnO-nanowire electrode , 2008 .

[27]  P. Ajayan,et al.  Growth of bilayer graphene on insulating substrates. , 2011, ACS nano.

[28]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Directed assembly of one-dimensional nanostructures into functional networks. , 2001, Science.

[29]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  Nanomaterial-incorporated blown bubble films for large-area, aligned nanostructures , 2008 .