Since the beginning of the era of third generation solar cells, researchers are motivated to explore various semiconductor-metal configurations for the efficient solar energy conversion. We first time report the use of non-stoichiometric PbOx electrodes in the Schottky junction solar cell. This metal oxide makes an efficient Schottky junction with the high work function alloy of Au-Pd. It was found that thin films of anodized lead metal prepared via potential pulse technique result in the nanowall assemblies. When a few nanometer layer of Au-Pd was sputtered on these assemblies, we obtained a core-shell Schottky junction solar cells of PbOx/Au-Pd. With these newly developed structures, we obtained highest Jsc of 2.04 mA/cm2 with Voc of 707 mV achieving an overall efficiency of 0.384%. The performance of solar cell was assessed by D.C. and A.C. techniques. An equivalent circuit model is also presented for understanding the charge transfer mechanisms in such solar cells.
One dimensional superstructures are of great interest in the field of optics, opto-electronics and photonics. Over
a period of time, researchers have developed various new and low cost techniques to prepare nanostructures
of metals as well as semiconductors. We found that ionic liquid can be used to synthesis nanostructured film
directly on the substrate by means of electrodeposition. It was found that spindle like CdTe superstructure
assemblies over the commercial F:SnO2 substrate gives a Schottky junction, resulting in the highest rectification
ratio of 6000. It was also possible to manipulate the dimensions of structures by changing the precursor molar
ratio in the ionic liquid bath. It was observed that by varying the structure size, electrical properties of the
diodes improve significantly. The admittance measurements reveal that by increasing the length and diameter
of the structures, the conductance of the diode increases linearly. We believe that proper arrangement of the
fabricated CdTe thin films will find many applications in near future.