Copper indium diselenide nanorod arrays were electrodeposited on tungsten/silicon rigid substrates using porous anodic alumina as growth template. The porous anodic alumina templates were prepared by anodizing aluminum films which were sputtered onto the tungsten/silicon substrates. A selective chemical etching was used to penetrate the barrier layer at the bottom of the alumina channels before electrodeposition, which enables direct electrical and chemical contact with the underside substrate electrode. The as-deposited samples were annealed at 450 ℃ in vacuum. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the nanorods were dense and compact with diameter of about 100 nm, length of approximate 1 um, and the aspect ratio of 10. X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy showed that chalcopyrite polycrystalline structure and high purity CuInSe2 nanorods were obtained. The grain size was large in the rod axial direction. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed the composition was nearly stoichiometric. The energy band gap of this nanorod arrays was analyzed by fundamental absorption spectrum and was evaluated to be 0.96 eV.
CuInSe2 （CIS） films with good crystalline quality were synthesized by electrodeposition followed by annealing in Se vapor at 530 ℃. The morphology, composition, crystal structure, optical and electrical properties of the CIS films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV-VISNIR spectroscopy, and admittance spectroscopy. The results revealed that the annealed CIS films had chalcopyrite structure and consisted of relatively large grains in the range of 500-1000 nm and single grain of films extend usually through the whole film thickness. The band gap of CIS films was 0.98 eV and carrier concentration was in the order of 1016 cm-3 after etching the Cu-Se compounds on the film surface. Solar cells with the structure of AZO/i-ZnO/CdS/CIS/Mo/glass were fabricated. Current density vs. voltage test under standard reported condition showed the solar cells with an area of 0.2 cm2 had a conversion efficiency of 0.96%. The underlying physics was also discussed.
