Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Fabrication of Robust Nanoscale Contact between a Silver Nanowire Electrode and CdS Buffer Layer in CuIn,GaSe2 Thin-film Solar Cells
Published on: July 19, 2019
Enhanced photolysis stability of Cu2O grown on Cu nanowires with nanoscale twin boundaries
Chun-Lung Huang1, Wei-Lun Weng1, Yan-Syun Huang1
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, 101 Sec. 2 Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan. cnliao@mx.nthu.edu.tw.
Abstract:
Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) that has a direct bandgap corresponding to visible-light absorption exhibits versatile functionalities, which are appealing to solar cell, photocatalyst, bio-sensing and water splitting applications. However, photolysis stability has long been a problem for Cu2O under light exposure and a humid environment. Here, we found that the Cu2O layer grown on Cu nanowires (CuNWs) with high-density nanoscale twin boundaries can maintain the integrity of Cu/Cu2O core-shell structure under ambient air conditions for more than one year. The Cu2O on nanotwinned CuNWs also demonstrates much higher stability in humid air and water with light exposure than its counterpart on nanocrystalline CuNWs. The superior photolysis stability of Cu2O is attributed to (1) photoelectrons drained to the Cu core, (2) limited vacancy sources in the Cu2O layer and (3) the suppressed out-diffusion of Cu cations through the oxide layer. It is suggested that the presence of nanoscale twin boundaries modifies the atomic surface structure of the CuNWs and alters the photolysis reaction of Cu2O.
Related Concept Videos
Bioavailability Enhancement: Drug Stability Enhancement and GI Retention
RNA Stability
Areas Within Irregular Boundaries
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together...
Electrostatic Boundary Conditions
The surface integral of an electric field is given by Gauss's law in integral form and is related to...
Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions

