Nanotechnology have been increasingly implemented in various applications. Zinc oxide is a favorable nanorod-compatible material for use in solar cells due to its low cost and natural n-type semiconductive properties. Nanorods are known to have a greater photoconversion efficiency than the respective ZnO. This is thought to be due to increased surface area and quantum confinement effect. However, most nanorod syntheses involve high pressure, high temperature reaction environments over the course of several hours, which make them cost prohibitive for use on the industrial scale. In this presentation, a new synthesis for rapid, energy efficient production of nanorods is discussed. This synthesis allows for the relatively swift (&lt;2 h) production of consistently-sized nanorods at low temperatures (&lt; 100 °C) under atmospheric pressure. The energy and time efficiency of this synthesis allows for industrial applications, and has potential for scalability. The low cost of material and increased photoconversion efficiency, along with the presented industrially applicable synthesis motivate further investigation of these nanorods for the purpose of integration into commercial devices.

Applications of ZnO nanorods for PV solar cells

251st National Meeting (2016)

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