• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.226-226
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• 2013

Si is a dominant solar material, which is the second most abundant element in the earth giving a benefit in the aspect in cost with low toxicity. However, the inherent limit of Si has an indirect band gap of 1.1 eV resulting in the limited optical absorption. Therefore, a critical issue has been raised to increase the utilization of the incident light into the Si absorber. The enhancement of light absorption is a crucial to improve the performances and thus relieves the cost burden of Si photovoltaics. For the optical aspect, an efficient design of a front surface, where the incident light comes in, has been intensively investigated to improve the performance of photon absorption. Lambertian light trapping can be attained when the light active surface is ideally rough to increase the optical length by about 50 compared to a planar substrate. This suggests that an efficient design may reduce thickness of the Si absorber from the conventional 100~300 ${\mu}m$ to less than 3 ${\mu}m$. Theoretically, a hole-array structure satisfies an equivalent efficiency of c-Si with only one-twelfth mass and one-sixth thickness. Various approaches have been applied to improve the incident light utilization in a Si absorber using textured structures, periodic gratings, photonic crystals, and nanorod arrays. We have designed hole and pillar structured Si absorbers. Four-different Si absorbers have been simultaneously fabricated on an identical Si wafer with hole arrays or pillar arrays at a fixed depth of 2 ${\mu}m$. We have found that the significant enhanced solar cell performances both for the hole arrayed and pillar arrayed Si absorbers compared to that of a planar Si wafer resulting from the effective improvement in the quantum efficiencies.

• Archives of Metallurgy and Materials
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.751-754
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• 2021

Rutile-TiO₂ nanorod thin films were formed on Ti disks via alkali treatment in NaOH solutions followed by heat treatment at 700℃. Ag nanoparticles were loaded on nanorods using a photo-reduction method to improve the photocatalytic properties of the prepared specimen. The surface characterization and the photo-electrochemical properties of the Ag-loaded TiO₂ nanorods were investigated using a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The TiO₂ nanorods obtained after the heat treatment were 80 to 180 nm thick and 1 ㎛ long. The thickness of the nanorods increased with the NaOH concentration. The UV-Vis spectra exhibit a shift in the absorption edge of the Ag-loaded TiO₂ to the visible light range and further narrowing of the bandgap. The decrease in the size of the capacitive loops in the EIS spectra showed that the Ag loading effectively improved the photocatalytic activity of the TiO₂ nanorods.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.472-476
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• 2016

The nano-array of the vertically aligned rod-like particles grown on ZnO coated glass-substrates was obtained via hydrothermal process. ZnO thin film coatings were prepared on the glass substrates using a MOD (metallorganic deposition) dip-coating method with zinc chloride dihydrate as starting material and 2-ethylhexanol as solvent. ZnO nanorods were synthesized on the seeded substrates by hydrothermal method at $80^{\circ}C$ using zinc-nitrate hexahydrate as a Zn source and sodium hydroxide as a mineralizer. Under the hydrothermal condition, the rod-like nanocrystals were easily attaching on the already ZnO seeded (coated) glass surface. It has been shown that the hydrothermal synthesis parameters are key factors in the nucleation and growth of ZnO crystallites. By controlling of hydrothermal parameters, the ZnO particulate morphology could be easily tailored. Rod-shaped ZnO arrays on the glass substrates consisted of elongated crystals having 6-fold symmetry were predominantly developed at high Zn precursor concentration in the pH range 7~11.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.25.2-25.2
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• 2009

Vertically aligned zinc oxide(ZnO) nanorods (NRs) with different surface morphology were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrate with different deposition condition. Based on the surface morphology, ZnO nanostructures are divided into three types: nanoneedles, nanonails and nanorods with rounded tip. Variable temperature photoluminescence (PL) have employed to probe the exciton recombination in high density and vertically aligned ZnO Nanorod arrays. Low temperature photoluminescence measurements do not show any significant yellow emission, but the near band edge excitonic emission shows very strong dependence with the surface morphology. The recombination properties are expected to be different due to different surface-to-volume ratio and distribution of potential fluctuations of intrinsic defects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.182-182
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.155-159
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• 2008

In this work, we report synthesis of free-standing ZnO/Zn core-shell micro-polyhedrons using metal Zn pellets as a source material by the thermal chemical vapor deposition process. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy measurements were introduced to investigate morphologies and structural properties of as-grown ZnO/Zn core-shell micro-polyhedrons. It was found that micro-polyhedrons were composed of inner single-crystalline metal Zn surrounded by single-crystalline ZnO nanorod arrays. The inner single crystalline metal Zn with micro-scale diameter has a hexagonal crystal structure. Diameter and height of ZnO nanorods covering the metal Zn surface are below 10 nm and 100 nm, respectively. It was also confirmed that c-axis oriented ZnO nanorods are single crystalline with a hexagonal crystal structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.414-414
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• 2008

Vertically well-aligned Ga-doped ZnO nanorods with different Ga contents were grown by thermal evaporation on a ZnO template. The Ga-doped ZnO nanorods synthesized with 50 wt % Ga with respect to the Zn content showed maximum compressive stress relative to the ZnO template, which led to a rapid growth rate along the c-axis due to the rapid release of stored strain energy. A further increase in the Ga content improved the conductivity of the nanorods due to the substitutional incorporation of Ga atoms in the Zn sites based on a decrease in lattice spacing. The p-n diode structure with Ga-doped ZnO nanorods, as a n-type, displayed a distinct white light luminescence from the side-view of the device, showing weak ultraviolet and various deep-level emissions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.178-183
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• 2014

Recently, various type of nanomaterials such as nanorod, nanowire, nanotube and their core/shell nanostructures have attracted much attention in photocatalyst due to their unique properties. Among them, Type-II core/shell heterostructures have extensively studied because it has exhibited improved electrical and optical properties against their single-component nanostructure. Such structures are expected to offer high absorption efficiency and fast charge transport due to their stepwised energetic combination and large internal surface area. Thus, it has been considered as potential candidates for high efficient photocatalytic activity. In this work, we introduce a novel chemical conversion process to synthesize Type-II ZnO/ZnSe core/shell heterostructures. A plausible conversion mechanism to ZnO/ZnSe core/shell heterostructres was proposed based on SEM, XRD, TEM and XPS analysis. The ZnO/ZnSe heterostructures exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity toward the decomposition of RhB dye compared to the ZnO nanorod arrays due to enhanced light absorption and the type-II cascade band structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.283.1-283.1
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• 2014

최근 주위 환경에 존재하는 다양한 에너지를 전기에너지로 회수 또는 수확하는 에너지 하베스팅 기술(energy harvesting technology)이 크게 주목을 받고 있으며, 이와 더불어 압전 나노발전소자(piezoelectric nanogenerator)의 연구가 활발해 진행되고 있다. 한편, 수열합성법 또는 전기화학증착법을 이용하여 비교적 간단하게 수직으로 성장된 산화아연 나노로드(ZnO nanorod)는 광대역 에너지 밴드갭(wide bandgap energy)과 압전(piezoelectric)특성을 갖게 된다. 이렇게 수직 정렬된 나노로드의 기하학적 구조는 외부 물리적인 힘에 의해 구부러짐(bending) 변형이 일어나 압전특성이 효과적으로 일어나며, 이런 현상을 이용하여 압전 나노발전소자에 응용할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 상부의 전극의 표면 거칠기(surface roughness)를 증가시켜 외부 힘에 의해 산화아연 나노로드가 효과적으로 변형을 일으켜 압전 특성을 향상시켰다. 실험을 위해, 산화아연 마이크로로드 어레이 (microrod arrays)와 실리카 마이크로스피어(silica microsphere)를 각각 템플릿으로 이용하여 그 위에 금(Au)를 증착하여 상부전극을 제작하였다. 산화아연 나노로드와 마이크로로드는 전기화학증착법을 이용해서 저온공정($75^{\circ}C$)으로 ITO가 코팅된 PET 기판위에 성장하였으며, 인가된 전압의 세기를 변화시켜 산하아연 구조물의 크기를 조절하였다. 또한 화합합성법으로 실리카 마이크로 스피어를 준비하였다. 이러게 제작된 상부전극을 통해 기존의 사용되었던 전극과 비교하여 성능이 향상됨을 확인하였으며, 이와 함께 이론적인 분석을 진행하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.315.1-315.1
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• 2014

The use of cellulose papers has recently attracted much attention in various device applications owing to their natural advantageous properties of earth's abundance, bio-friendly, large-scale production, and flexibility. Conventional metal oxides with novel structures of nanorods, nanospindles, nanowires and nanobelts are being developed for emerging electronic and chemical sensing applications. In this work, both ZnO (n-type) nanorod arrays (NRAs) and CuO (p-type) nanospindles (NSs) were synthesized on cellulose papers and the p-n junction property was investigated using the electrode of indium tin oxide coated polyethylene terephthalate film. To synthesize ZnO and CuO nanostructures on cellulose paper, a simple and facile hydrothermal method was utilized. First, the CuO NSs were synthesized on cellulose paper by a simple soaking process, yielding the well adhered CuO NSs on cellulose paper. After that, the ZnO NRAs were grown on CuO NSs/cellulose paper via a facile hydrothermal route. The as-grown ZnO/CuO NSs on cellulose paper exhibited good crystalline and optical properties. The fabricated p-n junction device showed the I-V characteristics with a rectifying behaviour.