Silicon is the most widely used material for current photovoltaic (PV) panel manufacturing.
Next generation solar cells will be obtained by creating novel device structures, material
fabrication processes and implementing new physical principles. In this regard, semiconductor
nanostructures have shown their potential for achieving efficient solar energy conversion at
low cost due to their particular and tunable optical properties.
Nevertheless, most of the fabrication techniques currently employed have some limiting
factors, such as the need for high temperatures (T > 500 °C) or vacuum systems. For this
reason in this work has been investigated the growth of Si nanostructures through the
combination of a cost-effective technique like electrochemical deposition with the properties of
liquid Ga as catalyst for the crystallization.
Electrodeposition has been performed successfully on different substrates and for different
temperatures and voltages. The results have been analyzed through SEM, EDX and XPS
revealing a correlation between temperature/voltage and the oxidation state and homogeneity
of the deposition. The actual effect of Ga in the process is not clear, but seems that under the
current conditions is not really playing a role. Further experiments are planned to better
understand the system and hopefully obtaining crystalline Si nanostructures exploiting the
role of Ga as catalyst.ope
