Piao Liu

Piao Liu received his Bachelor of Science degree from Zhejiang University in China in 2005. He is now pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky. His research interests are in nanoscaled electric and optoelectronic devices such as sensors and solar cells, modelling and understanding the properties and characteristics of materials in nanoscale, as well as fabricating nanostructured devices.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Current project is fabricating and analyzing cadmium sulfide (CdS)/copper indium diselenide (CIS) nanowire heterojunction based solar cells inside anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. The device configuration is illustrated in Fig. 1 below.

Fig.1 structure of CdS-CIS based solar cells within AAO templates on Al substrate

Current research results include fabrication of AAO templates on Al sheet and barrier layer removal, CIS nanowire electrodeposition, gold nanowire electrodeposition, and CdS nanowire electrodeposition. Related SEM image are shown below.

Fig.2 Barrier layer removed AAO templates (left) and electrodeposited CdS nanowires (right)

Fig.3 Top view (left) and cross-section view (right) of electrodeposited CIS nanowires