Urchin-inspired zinc oxide as building blocks for nanostructured solar cells

► Controlled size, arrangement and architecture of 3D ZnO urchin like nanostructures. ► Combining electrodeposition with atomic layer deposition and polystyrene lithography. ► Extremely thin absorber solar cells based on ZnO urchin, CdSe, and CuSCN. ► Correlation between the nanostructuration and the light scattering and absorbance. ► Properties of semiconductors characterized with SEM, TEM, EDX and spectrophotometry.