Effect of Ag Nanowire/ZnO Core–Shell Photoelectrodes in Sb₂S₃-Based Hybrid Solar Cells

We adopted Ag nanowire (NW)/ZnO core–shell photoelectrodes for conventional planar ZnO-based Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells to improve the cell efficiency. The core–shell structure consisted of a network of Ag NWs as the core and a ZnO shell in the form of a coating layer covering the surface of the Ag NWs Compared to conventional planar ZnO-based Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells, the Ag NW/ZnO-based Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells showed an approximately 50% improvement in the power conversion efficiency due to the significant increase in the J _sc In turn, the improved J _sc was attributed to the increased surface area and charge-collection efficiency by the Ag NW network core. Out of several shell thicknesses, a 60 nm thick ZnO shell layer led to cells with the highest efficiency of 3.02%, demonstrating that the Ag NW/ZnO core–shell photoelectrodes effectively improved the efficiency of the Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells.