Growth of Ordered Nanostructure Arrays Including Nanotubes and Nanorods for High Efficiency Solar Cells

A simple and straightforward approach has been described for the fabrication of CdTe nanotube and nanorod arrays with a high degree of precision through confined electrodeposition on lithographically patterned nanoelectrodes. This technique has the potential of growing these nanotube/nanowire arrays with extreme uniformity over a significantly large area. the desired nanoelectrode pattern was defined through electron beam lithography on indium tin oxide coated glass, and electrodeposition of the semiconducting material of interest (CdTe) on the nanoelecrodes produced the nanotubes/nanowires. It is interesting to note that the measured photocurrent density of nanotube device created by this protocol exceeds that obtained from a thin film device fabricated under similar conditions by several orders of magnitude. the ability to fine tune all the physical dimensions and distribution density of the nanostructures, make this method a versatile tool to fabricate and investigate nano-structured photovoltaic devices and study their structure-property relationship. Additionally the ability to create uniform nano-feature arrays in addition to nanotube/nanorod arrays through one-step electrodeposition makes this protocol unique.