Cation exchange synthesis of CuIn x Ga1- x Se2 nanowires and their implementation in photovoltaic devices

Guanwei Jia; Kun Wang; Baokun Liu; Peixu Yang; Jinhui Liu; Weidong Zhang; Rongbin Li; Chengduo Wang; Shaojun Zhang; Jiang Du

doi:10.1039/c9ra04605d

Cation exchange synthesis of CuIn _x Ga_{1- x} Se₂ nanowires and their implementation in photovoltaic devices

RSC Adv. 2019 Nov 4;9(61):35780-35785. doi: 10.1039/c9ra04605d. eCollection 2019 Oct 31.

Authors

Guanwei Jia¹, Kun Wang², Baokun Liu², Peixu Yang², Jinhui Liu², Weidong Zhang², Rongbin Li³, Chengduo Wang², Shaojun Zhang², Jiang Du^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University Kaifeng 475004 China.
² Henan Province Industrial Technology Research Institute of Resources and Materials, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450001 China 0210927@163.com.
³ School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing Beijing 100083 China.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, The University of Texas at Austin Austin TX 78712 USA.

Abstract

CuIn _x Ga_1-x Se₂ (CIGS) nanowires were synthesized for the first time through an in situ cation exchange reaction by using CuInSe₂ (CIS) nanowires as a template material and Ga-OLA complexes as the Ga source. These CIGS nanowires maintain nearly the same morphology as CIS nanowires, and the Ga/In ratio can be controlled through adjusting the concentration of Ga-OLA complexes. The characteristics of adjustable band gap and highly effective light-absorbances have been achieved for these CIGS nanowires. The light-absorbing layer in photovoltaic devices (PVs) can be assembled by employing CIGS nanowires as a solar-energy material for enhancing the photovoltaic response. The highest power conversion efficiency of solar thin film semiconductors is more than 20%, achieved by the Cu(In _x Ga_1-x )Se₂ (CIGS) thin-film solar cells. Therefore, these CIGS nanowires have a great potential to be utilized as light absorber materials for high efficiency single nanowire solar cells and to generate bulk heterojunction devices.