ABSTRACT
One-dimensional silicon nanostructures such as nanowires have been realized as promising materials for a lot of applications in the semiconductor fields and renewable energy systems. Metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) is the preferred process for gaining better fabrication of silicon nanostructures such as nanowires. It offers a sound structure of nanowire specification such as orientation, length, diameter, uniformity, morphology, and porosity. A study of the silicon nanowires in two-step Ag-assisted chemical etching also provides more understanding about the MACE process and can be an alternative way in silicon-nanowire fabrication. The morphologies of silicon nanowires resulted in similar diameters for all three pitch sizes. Interestingly, the reduction of pitch size can fabricate longer nanowires. Shape-diversified silicon nanowires were fabricated by utilizing a hydrofluoric acid /nitric acid solution with the facilitation of a catalyst using silver metal. A simple arrangement of a hybrid solar cell can be obtained by simple combination of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate as the p-type layer and n-type silicon.
