Dimension- and Surface-tailored ZnO Nanowires Enhance Charge

Apr 6, 2018 - The use of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires improves charge collection, and consequently power conversion efficiency, in quantum dot (QD) base...
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Dimension- and Surface-tailored ZnO Nanowires Enhance Charge Collection in Quantum Dot Photovoltaic Devices Jayce J. Cheng, Chia-Hao Marcus Chuang, Olivia Hentz, Paul Rekemeyer, Moungi G. Bawendi, and Silvija Gradecak ACS Appl. Energy Mater., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b00204 • Publication Date (Web): 06 Apr 2018 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on April 12, 2018

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Dimension- and Surface-Tailored ZnO Nanowires

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Enhance Charge Collection in Quantum Dot

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Photovoltaic Devices

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Jayce J. Cheng1, Chia-Hao Marcus Chuang2, Olivia Hentz1, Paul H. Rekemeyer1, Moungi G.

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Bawendi2, Silvija Gradečak1*

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1

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Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA

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Abstract. The use of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires improves charge collection, and consequently

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power conversion efficiency, in quantum dot (QD) based photovoltaic devices. However, the

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role of the nanowire geometry (e.g. density, length, morphology etc.) relative to the QD

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properties remains unexplored, in part due to challenges with controlled nanowire synthesis.

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Here, we independently tailor nanowire length and the active device layer thickness to study

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charge collection in lead sulfide (PbS) QD photovoltaic devices. We then demonstrate

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consistently high internal quantum efficiency in these devices by applying quantum efficiency

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and total reflectance measurements. Our results show that significant losses originate from ZnO

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nanowire-QD interfacial recombination, which we then successfully overcome by using

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nanowire surface passivation. This geometry-tailored approach is generally applicable to other

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 2Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts

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nanowire-QD systems and the surface passivation schemes will play significant role in future

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development of nanostructured photovoltaics.

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Keywords. Nanostructured photovoltaics, lead sulfide, quantum dots, zinc oxide, nanowires,

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charge extraction, interface recombination, surface passivation

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ZnO nanowires have been a critical component in increasing power conversion efficiency

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(PCE) of quantum dot photovoltaic devices (QD PV)1–4, mostly by improving charge collection.

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QD PV utilize semiconductor nanocrystals with sub-Bohr radius dimensionality as their active

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layer5–7, providing bandgap tunability. In particular, PbS QDs can be synthesized with excellent

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size control8,9 in a facile one-pot process10,11 and PbS QD PV devices have demonstrated

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certified PCE up to 13.4%13. Their scalability14,15 and long-term stability in ambient

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atmosphere16 makes them an attractive photovoltaic technology. However, the carrier diffusion

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length in QD films falls short of the optimum thickness for absorbing all of the incident light17–

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combined depletion width and carrier diffusion length (estimated at 300 and 100 nm,

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respectively, for PbS QDs passivated with tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI)18,20,21), thus

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sacrificing carrier collection22,23. Incorporating ZnO nanowires into PbS QD PV enabled

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formation of thicker active layers by providing high electron mobility pathways within the

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device that greatly increase the efficiency of charge extraction3,24 by increasing short-circuit

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current (Jsc)25,26. ZnO nanowires with excellent crystal quality can be hydrothermally synthesized

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under benign temperature and pH conditions27–30 and on a range of substrates2, making them

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excellent candidates for PV applications. Moreover, we have recently demonstrated31,32 synthesis

: a 700 nm thick PbS QD film absorbs 85% of incident light, but this thickness exceeds the

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of high quality nanowire arrays with controlled density, length and morphology, which makes

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them an ideal platform for investigating the role of nanostructures in optical absorption and

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charge extraction in QD PV devices.

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Despite the success of ZnO nanowire PbS QD PV devices, there are several outstanding

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questions concerning the role of ZnO nanowires in the active layer. First, it remains unclear how

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nanowire dimensions affect optical and electronic processes in QD PV devices, and therefore the

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ideal device geometry for maximizing Jsc. Second, ZnO nanowire QD PV devices typically show

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lower open circuit voltage (Voc) compared to planar ZnO devices. Reduced Voc can result from

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multiple

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recombination22,36; identifying the dominating factors in ZnO nanowire devices would further

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boost PCE. Finally, increased scattering at the nanowire-QD interface can increase the optical

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pathlength3, resulting in higher net absorption, but the full influence of different nanowire

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geometries on the optical scattering profile remains unclear.

sources

such

as

shunting,

interfacial

recombination33–35,

or

trap-mediated

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Here, we show that morphological tailoring and surface engineering of ZnO nanowire arrays

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is critical for enhancing performance of PbS QD PV devices by increasing light trapping and

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reducing interfacial recombination. We first show that Jsc increases monotonically with device

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thickness for devices with constant nanowire length, which demonstrates that nanowires enable

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thicker active layers without sacrificing charge collection. Subsequently, the parameter space

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was explored by fabricating devices with varying nanowire length and active layer thickness. As

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nanowire length increases, there is an increasing mismatch between the measured Jsc and the

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corresponding value calculated from external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements. In

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seeking to explain the deficit, we exclude light trapping and light concentration effects and show

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that interfacial recombination is a significant loss mechanism in nanowire devices.

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Consequently, interfacial recombination and the Jsc deficit were minimized by titania surface

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passivation via atomic-layer deposited (ALD). These findings show that precise control of

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nanostructured morphology and surface properties to match the optical and electronic properties

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of the active layer is essential for achieving maximum performance in PV devices.

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To investigate the effect of QD overlayer (i.e. the thickness of QDs above the nanowire

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array) on device properties, we first fabricated ZnO nanowire/PbS QD PV devices with varying

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active layer thickness between 335 – 575 nm and constant nanowire length of 200 ± 10 nm

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(Figure 1a). As this comparative study focuses on varying nanowire geometry between devices,

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readily available QDs with a first exciton peak at 880 nm were used. We achieved excellent

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nanowire length uniformity from substrate-to-substrate, while the active layer thickness

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increased linearly with number of spincoated layers (Supporting Information Figure S1). Jsc

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increases continuously with device thickness even above 575 nm (Figure 1b) – significantly

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beyond the carrier collection depth – confirming that nanowire arrays enhance charge extraction

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by extending the depths from which carriers can be efficiently collected. Furthermore, net optical

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absorption increases with thickness (the total volume of QDs is increasing); this effect coupled

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with enhanced carrier extraction results in the increase of Jsc. As also shown in Figure 1b, the

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measured Jsc values are in agreement with the current extracted from EQE measurements on the

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same devices (Jsc, EQE). The increase in Jsc involves a tradeoff in Voc and fill factor (Supporting

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Information Figure S2), both of which decrease with device thickness. These relationships can be

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attributed to bulk recombination and increasing series resistance, respectively. These competing

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processes culminate in a maximum PCE for devices with an active layer of 470 nm for the fixed

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nanowire length of 200 nm (Figure 1b, inset).

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Figure 1. Effect of varying device thickness with constant nanowire length. (a) Cross-section

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scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of nanowire QD PV devices where the nanowire

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length is fixed at 200 nm and the number of QD layers is indicated above the respective cross-

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section. Active layer thickness refers to the total thickness of nanowire array and QD overlayer.

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(b) Corresponding device performance metrics Jsc, Jsc, EQE and PCE (inset) as a function of the

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device thickness. Each data point represents six individual devices.

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Having ascertained the effect of QD thickness while holding nanowire length constant, we

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next fabricated devices with varied nanowire length (Figure 2a) to investigate the role of 5 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

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nanowires in charge collection. Sets of devices with 9, 12, and 15 QD layers were fabricated,

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with each set featuring nanowire lengths increasing in 50 nm intervals, beginning from planar

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ZnO until device failure (short-circuited device due to excessive nanowire length). Again, we

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were able to precisely control nanowire length across each set; nanowire length increased

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linearly with growth time and device thickness increased linearly with number of QD layers

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(Supporting Information Figure S3). These device architectures span a significant parameter

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space and therefore allow us to probe the dual effects of nanowire length and device thickness on

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PV metrics.

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Device performance parameters as a function of the nanowire length are shown in Figures 2b

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– d. It is immediately obvious that both device thickness and nanowire length strongly affect

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device performance. For devices with thick (15-layers) or thin (9-layers) QD overlayers,

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incorporation of nanowires only slightly enhances PCE before it starts to decrease as nanowires

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extend deeper into the active layer (Figure 2b). In contrast, nanowire devices significantly

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outperform planar devices in the 12-layer device set, and we obtain maximum PCE of 8.5% with

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200 nm ZnO nanowires and 470 nm active layer thickness, corresponding to the dimensions at

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which current collection is maximized (Figure 2d).

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To get deeper understanding of the factors that influence – and eventually limit – PCE, we

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next consider Voc and Jsc for different nanowire lengths and device thicknesses. Voc displays

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distinct variation with nanowire length within each set (Figure 2c). In the 15-layer set (thickest

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active layer), Voc is a weak function of nanowire length. However, decreasing the number of

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spincoated QD layers from 12 to 9 causes the effect of nanowire length to become significant:

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Voc decreases substantially as nanowire length increases. Voc has been shown to be sensitive to

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nanowire-QD interfacial traps28, which act as recombination sites and may also pin the Fermi-

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level. Since increasing nanowire length from 200 – 475 nm causes at least a doubling in

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nanowire surface area (details in Supplementary Figure S4), the observed Voc behavior suggests

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that nanowire surfaces strongly impact device performance.

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Figure 2. Effect of varying device thickness and nanowire length. (a) Cross-section SEM

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images of devices with varying nanowire length (nominal length indicated) and number of QD

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layers, thus the overall device thickness. All micrographs are at same scale. Corresponding

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device performance metrics (b) PCE, (c) Voc and (d) Jsc for sets of nanowire length-varied

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devices with 9, 12 and 15 spincoated QD layers. For each set, nanowire length was increased in

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50 nm intervals until device failure, i.e. for each set, the subsequent device failed due to short-

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circuiting. Darker background shading indicates relatively higher magnitude within each set.

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Overall Jsc increases with the number of QD layers (Figure 2d), confirming the results

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obtained from active layer thickness-varied devices. Whereas the thinnest 9-layer device series 7 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

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displays minimal variation in Jsc with nanowire length, both the 12- and 15-layer devices display

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a distinct maximum in Jsc: compared to planar devices, Jsc increases until nanowires are about

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200 nm long, subsequently decreasing rapidly as nanowires become longer. The initial increase

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in Jsc shows that nanowires improve charge collection over planar devices for thicker active

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layers. Furthermore, even small differences in nanowire length (200 nm vs. 150 nm) are

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sufficient to increase Jsc by ~ 2 mA cm-2 (8% increase), showing that precise control of nanowire

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length is critical for maximizing overall device performance.

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As the nanowire length (and consequently device thickness) increases, electron collection

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improves because ZnO nanowires provide high electron mobility pathways. Electrons can thus

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be efficiently collected from deeper regions in the device, but the distance travelled by holes to

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the Au anode also increases with nanowire length (the optical generation rate decreases

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exponentially with the path length so the bulk of carrier generation takes place at the ZnO-QD

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interface). Therefore, Jsc increases with the nanowire length, but eventually drops due to poor

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collection of holes26. Furthermore, optical effects, such as internal light scattering and light

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concentration due to nanowires, may result in changes to carrier recombination dynamics.

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Finally, incorporating increasingly longer nanowires into the active layer introduces defects into

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the QD film or ZnO-QD interface, which cause poorer film quality and hence reduction in light

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absorption and charge collection efficiency. We therefore next provide more in-depth

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investigation of individual effects via quantum efficiency measurements.

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Different types of quantum efficiency measurements isolate specific optoelectronic

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processes, thereby letting us identify and address any limiting factors. EQE convolves several

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optical and electronic processes into a single measurement, as elucidated in Figure 3a. The ratio

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of incident photon flux to total charge generation rate is known as absorption efficiency.

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Following collection of generated carriers to their respective electrodes, the ratio of total charge

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generation rate to collection rate is known as collection efficiency; the ratio of collection

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efficiency to absorption efficiency is termed internal quantum efficiency (IQE), that is, the

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ability of a material to generate charge from light. EQE spectra for the 15-layer device set are

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shown in Figure 3b. The planar device spectrum displays pronounced interference peaks whereas

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spectra for nanowire devices are smoother, indicating that enhanced optical scattering in

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nanowire devices influences the optical modes that form interference peaks in the active layer.

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Internal scattering by nanowires improves light harvesting efficiency by increasing the optical

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pathlength resulting in overall higher EQE for nanowire vs. thin film devices. It is also important

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to note the opposed quantum efficiency behavior in the short (~400 nm) and long (~900 nm, at

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the excitonic peak) wavelength regions as a function of nanowire length. At short wavelengths

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the quantum efficiency decreases with increasing nanowire length. Because these wavelengths

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are absorbed near the substrate, i.e. at the ZnO-QD interface, increasing the nanowire length

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causes poorer carrier collection as holes have to travel further to the Au contact. However, at

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longer wavelengths quantum efficiency increases as nanowires become longer. These

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wavelengths are absorbed deeper in the device, near the QD-Au contact interface, and therefore

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enhanced EQE in this spectral region reflects improved carrier collection by longer nanowires in

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this region of the device.

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Figure 3. External quantum efficiency measurements. (a) Individual optical and electronic

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efficiencies measured during EQE. Following illumination of AM 1.5G, light is transmitted,

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reflected specularly, or reflected diffusely at each material interface, completing a double pass

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after full reflection at the Au contact. (b) EQE spectra for the 15-layer device series including

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spectra for planar, 150, 210, 370 and 570 nm long nanowires. All spectra display the PbS QD

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exciton peak at ~ 930 nm. Interference effects in the spectrum for planar device (black dashed

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line) can be seen in the peaks at 380 and 725 nm. Black arrows at 400 and 930 nm indicate

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change in EQE arising from increasing nanowire length.

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The theoretical short circuit current Jsc, EQE is shown in Figure 4a, b, and c for the 15-, 12-,

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and 9-layer device sets, respectively. In the absence of white light bias, Jsc,EQE typically

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underestimates Jsc because our EQE setup utilizes low intensity monochromatic perturbation, 10 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

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whereas J-V testing is performed under broadband 1-Sun intensity, where the higher generation

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rate causes trap-filling from increased carrier concentration thereby prolonging the carrier

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lifetime. However, in this case Jsc, EQE exceeds Jsc substantially (up to 5 mA cm-2, Figure 4d) for

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devices with longer nanowires. This behavior is consistent across each device series – as

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nanowire length increases, Jsc, EQE initially lies below Jsc, but while Jsc reaches a maximum and

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subsequently decreases, no similar precipitous drop in Jsc,

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recall (Figure 1b) that Jsc,

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increased with constant nanowire length, and therefore the current discrepancy is not a function

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of QD overlayer thickness. The consistently high Jsc,

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potentially be obtained if the specific carrier loss mechanism could be identified and alleviated,

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thereby greatly boosting PCE. The subsequent analysis therefore focuses on using three tools,

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namely UV/Vis integrating sphere measurements, finite element analysis, and ALD surface

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passivation with titania to isolate and consider the effects of light scattering, light concentration,

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and interfacial recombination, respectively.

EQE

EQE

was observed. Furthermore, we

remains a good indicator for Jsc even as device thickness is

EQE

suggests that much higher Jsc could

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The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the ZnO nanowire/PbS QD active layer was

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calculated by performing integrating sphere measurements to obtain the light harvesting

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efficiency (LHE) (Supporting Figure S5) and using Equation 1:

‫= ܧܳܫ‬

‫ܧܳܧ‬ ‫ܧܪܮ‬

(1)

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IQE and EQE differ in that EQE reflects collected carriers as a function of total incident photons,

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whereas IQE only considers photons that are actually absorbed in the material.

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Figure 4. Difference between current predicted by EQE and J-V testing. Jsc, EQE and Jsc vs.

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nanowire length for (a) 15-layer, (b) 12-layer, and (c) 9-layer device sets. The shaded region

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represents the current shortfall between Jsc, EQE and Jsc. (d) The difference between Jsc, EQE and Jsc

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as a function of nanowire length for each device series showing deficit and excess predicted

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current.

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Generally higher LHE over the visible and near infrared region for nanowire devices

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confirms that part of the Jsc,

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increasing nanowire length, the LHE spectra between nanowire devices are remarkably similar,

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suggesting that it is the presence of nanowires and not the specific morphology that improves

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light harvesting. Therefore, light harvesting from external surface scattering is unlikely to be the

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reason for the discrepancy between Jsc, EQE and Jsc. Apart from optical absorption, processes like

EQE

enhancement is due to nanowire optical scattering. Despite

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transmission, refraction, and reflection are not intensity-dependent (at the intensities involved in

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PV operation). Therefore, we do not expect the ability of a PV device to trap incident light

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through scattering to vary with the intensity of light during measurement, whether it is low-

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intensity (EQE) or 1-Sun (J-V testing). It therefore can be concluded that the current extraction

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becomes a function of light intensity when nanowire length increases.

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Sublinear variation of photocurrent with light intensity is likely due to changes in the type

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and relative rates of recombination. Between low-intensity EQE measurements and 1-Sun

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illumination, the generation rate changes by several orders of magnitude and the relative rates

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from different recombination mechanisms are intensity dependent. Therefore, the divergence

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between Jsc, EQE and Jsc may be due to:

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1. Increased internal scattering with longer nanowires causes optical generation to take place

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deeper into the device. Unintentional light concentration causes increased recombination rates

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and these rates change drastically with light intensity, thus reducing collection efficiency.

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2. Increasing nanowire length involves a commensurate increase of total interfacial area.

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Although the dominant recombination mechanism could be either interfacial recombination or

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Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination via sub-bandgap states, the latter dominates in planar

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devices,22 but the large interface area in ZnO nanowire devices could make interfacial

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recombination more significant. Notably, it has been shown that recombination at the ZnO-QD

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interface can cause sub-linear scaling in photocurrent vs. intensity1,34 due to space-charge

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limitation.

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Identifying the cause of this deficit is important because EQE represents an upper bound on

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collected current. The consistent IQE obtained for our active layer shows that the material is of

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generally good quality, and therefore further improvements in efficiency should be possible by

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addressing the cause of the deficit. Subsequently, we use optical simulation to yield information

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about scattering at the nanowire-QD interface and use atomic layer deposition (ALD) to

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passivate titania on the nanowire surface to investigate interfacial recombination.

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Figure 5. Finite-element analysis and ALD titania surface passivated devices. (a) FDTD

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simulation of carrier generation rate Gop distribution in 15-layer device set cross sections using

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measured nanowire lengths and device thicknesses. The corresponding predicted Jsc, obtained by

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integrating Gop across the cross section, is shown below; this value assumes 100% collection

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efficiency. Jsc and Jsc, EQE vs. nanowire length for (b) unpassivated and (c) ALD titania surface

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passivated planar and nanowire devices. All devices have 12 QD layers spincoated. The shaded

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region represents the current shortfall between Jsc, EQE and Jsc.

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We used finite element analysis to visualize the spatial variation of generation rate in each

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device cross-section (Figure 5a). Frequency-domain time difference (FDTD) simulation is

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crucial for accurately modeling nanowire devices because the features have sub-wavelength

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dimensions. Dielectric constant and extinction (n, k) values measured using spectroscopic

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ellipsometry were used as the material parameters for FDTD simulation (Supporting Figure S6).

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FDTD yields both the spatial distribution of generation rate and the integrated generation rate,

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which corresponds to the expected Jsc assuming 100% collection efficiency.

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The Jsc, FDTD predicted by FDTD increases with nanowire length (Figure 5a) and compared to

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thin film devices, which is in agreement with the EQE results. Nanowire devices have non-

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uniform spatial generation rate profile along the x-axis, with carrier generation concentrated in

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nanowire interstices, in contrast to planar devices. Furthermore, optical generation extends

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deeper into the device (along the y-axis) in nanowire devices as compared to planar devices

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because of the optical scattering provided by nanowires in the active layer. Finally, the absolute

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value of the maximum generation rate rises, from 1.5 × 1022 to 1.8 × 1022 cm-3 indicating that

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light concentration in the nanowire interstices can raise the carrier concentration rate by about

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20%; such regions would thus experience a somewhat higher recombination rate and lower

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collection efficiency. This is, however, unlikely to be the cause of the large current discrepancy

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between Jsc, EQE and Jsc. The predicted Jsc, FDTD tracks Jsc, EQE closely (Supporting Figure S7): Jsc,

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FDTD

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Therefore, it is changes in collection efficiency that are causing the current deficit, moving on to

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probe interfacial recombination as a possible carrier loss mechanism in nanowire devices.

increases with increasing number of QD layers, and also increases with nanowire thickness.

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ZnO nanowires likely contain significant concentrations of midgap interfacial surface states

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as evidenced by surface roughness following hydrothermal synthesis31 and propensity for

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interacting with adsorbed molecules37 via high dangling bond density. Indeed, changes in band

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offset38 and Fermi level pinning22,39 have been observed in QD PV devices due to interface

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chemistry. We recall that the increasingly severe decline in Voc with nanowire length as device

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thickness decreases (Figure 2c) suggests that substantial interfacial recombination exists. To

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probe this effect, two sets of 12-layer devices were fabricated with one set surface passivated

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with 1 nm of ALD titania and the other set fabricated without surface passivation (this thin layer

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does not change the nanowire surface area significantly). We selected titania for its excellent

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surface properties and robustness towards adsorption of contaminating species, while ALD

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provides us the capability of precisely depositing conformal layers with highly controllable sub-

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monolayer thickness.

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Jsc for unpassivated and passivated devices, shown in Figures 5b and 5c respectively, follows

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the familiar relationship with nanowire length, peaking at 200 nm long nanowires. However, all

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surface passivated nanowire devices have higher Jsc than unpassivated devices, demonstrating

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that ALD titania is indeed successful in improving current collection. Notably, surface

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passivation effectively halts the Voc decline (Supporting Figure S8b) whereas Voc for

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unpassivated devices decreases rapidly with increasing nanowire length, showing that surface

308

states are significant sources of carrier loss. The enhancement in carrier collection leads to higher

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PCE in surface passivated nanowire devices (Supporting Figure S8d), especially for devices with

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longer nanowire arrays (~ 400 nm). With this result we show that engineering of surface states,

311

in conjunction with nanowire array morphology tailoring, adds to our toolbox for boosting PCE

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of nanowire devices. Our work indicates a clear pathway toward development of effective

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surface passivation schemes that will be investigated in future.

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In conclusion, morphological tailoring and surface engineering of ZnO nanowire arrays were

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used to investigate convoluted optical and electronic processes in nanostructured PbS QD PV

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devices toward optimized device performance. Nanowires enhance current collection compared

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to planar devices and thus enable thicker QD active layers, but achieving maximum PCE

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involves a trade-off between improving current collection (by using longer nanowires) and Voc

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(by decreasing surface area). By exploring parameter space using devices with varying nanowire

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length and active layer thickness, we showed that the current extracted from EQE measurements

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Jsc,

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mechanisms in nanowire devices. The effect of external and internal light scattering were

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excluded as nanowires contribute to enhanced light scattering and thus improved optical

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absorption. Instead, interfacial recombination is the major contributor to the current losses. We

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used this knowledge to significantly minimize the losses by passivating ZnO nanowire surface

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using ALD titania. Our work demonstrates that precise control of all aspects of nanostructured

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architecture – morphology and surface structure – can be used to probe multiple optical and

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electronic phenomena and subsequently utilize their interaction to further enhance device

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performance.

EQE

significantly exceeded that observed during J-V testing pointing out potential loss

331

332

Methods

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ZnO nanowire arrays were fabricated by hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanowire arrays on

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150 nm thick patterned ITO electrodes (Thin Film Devices Inc). ITO substrates were sonicated

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in acetone for 10 min, boiled in IPA for 10 min, and finally subjected to O2 plasma cleaning for 2

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min. Dense seed layers were then spincoated from sol-gel solution (0.3 M zinc acetate, 0.3 M

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monoethanolamine in 2-methoxyethanol, all from Sigma-Aldrich) at 4000 rpm for 60 s, and

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annealed at 200 oC for 10 min. Two layers were spincoated to produce ~ 30 nm thick seed layers.

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ZnO nanowire arrays were then grown from the seed layers in 25 mM zinc nitrate and 25 mM

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HMTA aqueous solutions at 90 oC for varying growth times between 40 and 100 min to yield

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nanowire arrays with controlled lengths.

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For studying interfacial recombination, a subset of planar and nanowire arrays was surface

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passivated using atomic layer deposition (ALD) of TiO2, carried out on a Cambridge Nanotech

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Savannah ALD system. Each layer deposition cycle consisted of a 200 ms pulse of tetrakis-

346

dimethylamido-titanium, a 20 ms pulse of water, and a 7 s nitrogen purge. Deposition

347

temperature was 150 oC and 20 cycles were carried out to conformally surface passivate the ZnO

348

surface with 1 nm of TiO2.

349 350

The nanowire arrays, along with planar control n-type layers consisting of only the dense

351

seed layer (30 nm thickness), were then used as substrates for QD PV device fabrication. PbS

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QDs suspended in octane were prepared using our previously established procedure3,16,22.

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Deposition of a single QD layer was conducted as follows: 50 mg/ml PbS QDs in octane was

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spincoated at 1500 rpm for 35 s. Following deposition, ligand exchange was carried out. Two

355

types of ligands were used: 10 mg/ml TBAI in methanol, and 0.02 wt% EDT in acetonitrile

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(ACN). The QD film was soaked in either TBAI/methanol or EDT/ACN for 30 s, and spun off at

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2500 rpm for 30 s. The substrate was then rinsed with methanol or ACN respectively, depending

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on the ligand exchange solution, (2500 rpm, 30s) three times. The thickness of each layer was ~

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30 nm; layers were repeated until the desired thickness was obtained. The final two layers of

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every device were always EDT layers, i.e. a device with 8 layers would consist of the first 6

361

layers done with TBAI, finished off with 2 layers of EDT. Finally, gold top electrodes (100 nm)

362

were deposited using thermal evaporation to complete the device. The nominal active device area

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is 5.44 mm2 as defined by the overlap of the ITO and gold electrodes. For measurements, masks

364

with 3 mm2 apertures were used to define the device area in order to obtain accurate current

365

density measurements.

366 367

Current-voltage (J-V) testing was carried out using a Keithley 2636A source-meter and a

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Newport 96000 solar simulator with an AM1.5G filter. Before measurements, the light intensity

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was calibrated to 1-Sun, 100 mW cm-2 using a Newport 91150V reference cell. EQE

370

measurements were conducted using monochromatic light obtained by passing white light from a

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xenon lamp (Thermo Oriel 66921) successively through a chopper, monochromator, and finally

372

through an optical fiber butt-coupled to the device. The device was illuminated through the glass

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substrate in an underfilled geometry. The output photocurrent was measured with a lock-in

374

amplifier (Stanford Research System SR 830). Jsc,

375

spectrum with the AM 1.5G photon flux and integrating under the resulting curve from 380 –

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1100 nm. Total reflectance measurements were taken on a Perkin-Elmer LAMBDA 1050

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UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometer with 100 mm Integrating Sphere accessory. Finally, devices

EQE

was calculated by convolving the EQE

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were cross-sectioned using focused ion beam (FIB) on a FEI Helios Nanolab scanning electron

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microscope. Micrographs were taken at 5 kV accelerating voltage and 21 pA beam current.

380 381 382

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Supporting Information

384

Supporting information contains details regarding device dimension measurements, active layer

385

thickness varied device performance, nanowire surface area, total reflectance measurements,

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frequency-domain time difference simulation, and ALD titania surface passivation. This material

387

is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

388

Corresponding Author

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Address correspondence to: [email protected]

390

Acknowledgements

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This work was supported by Eni S.p.A. under the Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Center.

392

J.J.C. acknowledges support from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore.

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This work made use of the MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT, supported by the

394

National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807. Any opinion, findings, and

395

conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not

396

necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Figure 1 82x119mm (300 x 300 DPI)

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