Metal-Assisted Silicon Chemical Etching Using Self-Assembled Sacrificial Nickel Nanoparticles Template for Antireflection Layers in Photovoltaic and Light-Trapping Devices
Hexagonal close-packed nanolattices of monodispersed nickel nanoparticles have been discovered with trioctylphosphine as one of the surfactants, without extra forces. Their origin appears to be due to electrostatic interactions. This finding is expected to open up a new era in natural nanolattice research.
Nanostructured solar cells with coaxial p-n junction structures have strong potential to enhance the performances of the silicon-based solar cells. This study demonstrates a radial junction silicon nanowire (RJSNW) solar cell that was fabricated simply and at low cost using wet chemical etching. Experimental results reveal that the reflectance of the silicon nanowires (SNWs) declines as their length increases. The excellent light trapping was mainly associated with high aspect ratio of the SNW arrays. A conversion efficiency of ∼7.1% and an external quantum efficiency of ∼64.6% at 700 nm were demonstrated. Control of etching time and diffusion conditions holds great promise for the development of future RJSNW solar cells. Improving the electrode/RJSNW contact will promote the collection of carries in coaxial core-shell SNW array solar cells.
We demonstrate tunable 3D light trapping (up to ∼96%) architectures based on the SnSe2 nanoplate arrays (NPAs) via self-assembled growth and high performance (EF: 6.33 × 106, LOD: 1 × 10−12 M) SERS substrates based on SnSe2 NPAs.
Nanoshells composed of close-packed nickel nanoparticles have been fabricated on sillca spheres via strong interaction between the metallic cations and ions of the support. The nickel hollow nanoballs can be self-assembled via magnetic field-assisted route, which is confirmed by the transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic properties of Ni nanoshells are discussed. It is expected that the prepared method can be extended to the synthesis of other hollow metal spheres.
Naturally self-assembled nickel nanolattice