Fabrication of a zinc aluminum oxide nanowire array photoelectrode for a solar cell using a high vacuum die casting technique

Abstract

Zinc aluminum alloy nanowire was fabricated by the vacuum die casting. Zinc aluminum alloy was melted, injected into nanomold under a hydraulic pressure, and solidified as nanowire shape. Nanomold was prepared by etching aluminum sheet with a purity of 99.7 wt.% in oxalic acid solution. A nanochannel within nanomold had a pore diameter of 80 nm and a thickness of 40 m. Microstructure and characteristic analysis of the alumina nanomold and zinc-aluminum nanowire were performed by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction analysis, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Zinc aluminum oxide nanowire array was produced using the thermal oxidation method and designed for the photoelectrode application. © 2014 Chin-Guo Kuo et al.