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Metal Oxide Nanocrystals and Their Properties for Application in Solar Cells

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Handbook of Nanomaterials Properties

Abstract

Metal oxides have been of interest in processing, synthesis, characterization, and fabrication in both polymer-inorganic hybrid and dye-sensitized solar cells. TiO2 [1–5], ZnO [6–9], CuO [10], and Nb2O5 [11] have been used as effective charge transport medium in solar cells. Different morphologies of these metal oxides have been synthesized for better charge transport across solar cells. These metal oxide nanostructures are chosen to provide large interfacial area and enhance charge transport across active layer. Metal oxide-based inorganic nanostructures can also improve environmental stability to cells, which is a major cause of degradation in cell performance. In this section, commonly used metal oxides (e.g., TiO2, ZnO, Nb2O5, and CuO) will be discussed for their role in fabrication of polymer solar cells.

Both Ashish Dubey and Jiantao Zai made equal contribution to this work.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported in part by NSF CAREER (ECCS-0950731), NSF EPSCoR (Grant No. 0903804), and the State of South Dakota, NASA EPSCoR (No. NNX13AD31A), 3 M Nontenured Faculty Award, and SDBoR CRGP grant.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Center for Advanced Photovoltaics, DEH 219, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, 57007, USA

      Ashish Dubey & Qiquan Qiao

    2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, China

      Jiantao Zai & Xuefeng Qian

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    1. Ashish Dubey
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    3. Xuefeng Qian
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    4. Qiquan Qiao
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    Correspondence to Qiquan Qiao .

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    1. Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio- & Nanotechnology and Biomimetics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

      Bharat Bhushan

    2. Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

      Dan Luo

    3. Division of Restorative, Prosthetic and Primary Care, The Ohio State University, College of Dentistry, Columbus, Ohio, USA

      Scott R. Schricker

    4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

      Wolfgang Sigmund

    5. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

      Stefan Zauscher

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    Dubey, A., Zai, J., Qian, X., Qiao, Q. (2014). Metal Oxide Nanocrystals and Their Properties for Application in Solar Cells. In: Bhushan, B., Luo, D., Schricker, S., Sigmund, W., Zauscher, S. (eds) Handbook of Nanomaterials Properties. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31107-9_28

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