Integration of single-crystalline nanocolumns into highly ordered nanopore arrays

Indium tin oxide nanorod electrodes for polymer photovoltaics

We have deposited indium tin oxide (ITO) nanorods on glass and glass/ITO substrates by DC sputtering and by e-beam deposition. The properties of the nanorods deposited by different methods and on different substrates have been investigated. The ITO nanorods were also used as an electrode in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. We found that the nanorod morphology and sheet resistance had a significant effect on the solar cell performance, with significant improvements in the efficiency compared to commercial ITO film substrates in all cases except for e-beam deposited nanorods on glass that had high sheet resistance. The best power conversion efficiency achieved was 3.2 % (for sputtered ITO nanorods on ITO), compared to 2.1 % for commercial ITO substrates.

AFM, SEM and TEM Studies on Porous Anodic Alumina

Porous anodic alumina (PAA) has been intensively studied in past decade due to its applications for fabricating nanostructured materials. Since PAA's pore diameter, thickness and shape vary too much, a systematical study on the methods of morphology characterization is meaningful and essential for its proper development and utilization. In this paper, we present detailed AFM, SEM and TEM studies on PAA and its evolvements with abundant microstructures, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The sample preparation, testing skills and morphology analysis are discussed, especially on the differentiation during characterizing complex cross-sections and ultrasmall nanopores. The versatility of PAAs is also demonstrated by the diversity of PAAs' microstructure.