Metal-oxide coaxial nanowire photovoltaic cells

Two of the biggest losses in conventional solar cells are reflections and carrier thermalization. The nanowire geometry presented here has the potential to mitigate both of these losses [1, 2], however it requires nonconventional and non-planer fabrication procedures. Presented here is a facile synthesis of nanowire array solar cells consisting of a metal oxide heterojunction. The nanowires consist of a core-shell geometry consisting of coaxial layers of copper, copper oxide, zinc oxide, and indium tin oxide: these layers correspond to the bottom contact, p-layer, n-layer, and top contact, respectively.