Efficiency improvement of silicon nanostructure-based solar cells.

Solar cells based on a high-efficiency silicon nanostructure (SNS) were developed using a two-step metal-assisted electroless etching (MAEE) technique, phosphorus silicate glass (PSG) doping and screen printing. This process was used to produce solar cells with a silver nitrate (AgNO3) etching solution in different concentrations. Compared to cells produced using the single MAEE technique, SNS-based solar cells produced with the two-step MAEE technique showed an increase in silicon surface coverage of ~181.

Rice-straw-like structure of silicon nanowire arrays for a hydrogen gas sensor.

A rice-straw-like silicon nanowire (SiNW) array was developed for hydrogen gas sensing applications. The straight-aligned SiNW array sensor was first fabricated by the metal-assisted electroless etching (MAEE) technique. Rice-straw-like SiNW arrays were formed using a repeated MAEE technique.

Gas ionization sensors with carbon nanotube/nickel field emitters.

Gas ionization sensors based on the field emission properties of the carbon nanotube/nickel (CNT/Ni) field emitters were first developed in this work. It is found that the breakdown electric field (E(b)) slightly decreases from 2.2 V/microm to 1.