Modulating the optical and electrical properties of all metal oxide solar cells through nanostructuring and ultrathin interfacial layers

The benefits and drawbacks of nanostructuring in all oxide ZnO/Cu ₂O solar cells were studied. The solar cells were fabricated on fluorine doped tin oxide substrates, with solution processed deposition methods. Both planar ZnO layer and Cu₂O were deposited by electrodeposition while ZnO nanorods were grown by chemical bath deposition technique. It is shown that short circuit current (J_sc) of the devices increases with nanostructuring of ZnO due to electrical and optical gains. Despite improving the photocurrent, nanostructuring decreases the V_oc of the device due to carrier recombination. The introduction of a thin TiO₂ interfacial layer through atomic layer deposition was able to reduce the recombination.