Over the last few years the development of solar energy has become increasingly popular, which has led efforts to an intense focus to decrease the cost of manufacturing while simultaneously increasing the power conversion efficiency. Our project uses new approaches to accomplish these goals such as low temperature growth of ZnO nanorods as an n-type material grown on indium tin oxide (ITO) and the 3D printed structures to minimize contamination during the growth of ZnO nanorods. Nonetheless, it can be difficult to control the ordered growth in localized regions of ITO. Both methods that we had been employing – carbon tape and photolithography – had their advantages, yet they both caused concern for contamination since them both left residues. That concern was therefore minimized by using 3D printing to solve the issues of localized growth. Tests of different filaments printed with the Makerbot Replicator 2X were run and the results showed promising applications. In order to withstand the conditions during the chemical bath deposition of ZnO nanorods, the different 3D printed structures were tested for shape deformation by heat and high pH. EDX tests showed zero contamination from the printing filament in relation to those on the surface of the printed materials as well as the grown rods. The 3D sample holders were designed to somewhat prevent both Zn, that is sputtered onto the substrate, and growth of nanorods on sections that were masked. In conclusion, this 3D printed structure is an improvement over both the carbon tape and photolithography methods we employed. It is anticipated that through 3D printing in the fabrication of solar cell devices, it will accelerate their future development.

Selective growth of ZnO nanorods with applications in photovoltaics through the development of 3D printed structures

251st National Meeting (2016)

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