Nanostructured CuInSe2 by electrodeposition with the assistance of porous silicon templates

• Formation of self-standing 2.5 μm-PS templates.
• Electrodeposition of CuInSe2 into PS template substrates.
• Formation of CuInSe2 nanowires with the assistance of PS templates.

In this work, the results of the electrodeposition and characterization of CuInSe2 nanowires with the assistance of porous silicon (PSi) templates are presented. Work was done first to obtain the appropriated conditions to prepare porous silicon layers with 70% of porosity, a pore diameter with average size ∼20–30 nm and thicknesses close to 2.5 μm by electrochemical etching of p-type (100) c-Si wafers. Then, PS layers were peeled-off from the c-Si wafer and transferred to glass/TCO substrates to fabricate the new glass/TCO/PS template substrates. Afterward, the electrodeposition of CuInSe2 into the PS templates was carried out using an acidic aqueous buffered bath that contained the three active ionic species. The deposition conditions to obtain nanostructured CuInSe2 on the PS templates were established after performing a systematic study of deposition parameters. SEM images, EDS and Raman results showed that nanostructured CuInSe2 was formed into porous silicon templates; the infiltration was verified using the Fast Fourier Transform of optical reflectance response for the samples before and after the CuInSe2 infiltration.

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