Synthesis of uniform cadmium sulphide thin film by the homogeneous precipitation method on cadmium telluride nanorods and its application in three-dimensional heterojunction flexible solar cells

Jun Wang; Shurong Liu; Yannan Mu; Li Liu; Runa A; Pengyu Su; Jiandong Yang; Guijie Zhu; Wuyou Fu; Haibin Yang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.05.080

Synthesis of uniform cadmium sulphide thin film by the homogeneous precipitation method on cadmium telluride nanorods and its application in three-dimensional heterojunction flexible solar cells

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Nov 1:505:59-66. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.05.080. Epub 2017 May 25.

Authors

Jun Wang¹, Shurong Liu¹, Yannan Mu², Li Liu¹, Runa A¹, Pengyu Su¹, Jiandong Yang¹, Guijie Zhu¹, Wuyou Fu¹, Haibin Yang³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Physics and Chemistry, Heihe University, Heihe 164300, People's Republic of China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Qianjin Street 2699, Changchun 130012, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: yanghb@jlu.edu.cn.

PMID: 28570852
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.05.080

Abstract

High-density CdTe nanorod arrays are successfully embedded in a uniform and compact CdS layer, forming a novel three-dimensional (3D) CdTe NRs/CdS heterojunction structure. The CdS layer is prepared by homogeneous precipitation (HP) method using decomposition of urea. The effects of temperature and concentration of reactants on the growth and composition of CdS film are investigated in detail. The results demonstrate that the temperature affects the thermal decomposition of urea significantly, and the concentration of CdCl₂ and CS (NH₂)₂ plays an essential role in the compositional ratio of CdS film. Further investigations reveal that, in comparison with the traditional precipitation method, a better coverage of CdS on the surface of CdTe NRs can be obtained by HP method due to the slow and even hydrolysis of urea. Moreover, photovoltaic performance of the novel CdTe NRs/CdS 3D photovoltaic device is also investigated. This study demonstrates that the 3D heterostructure has potential application in thin film solar cells, and the successful deposition of CdS layer on the surface of CdTe NRs by HP method suggests a promising technique for large-scale fabrication of these solar cells.

Keywords: 3D heterojunction; CdS; CdTe; Homogeneous precipitation.