Introducing a zinc stannate, ZnSnO3 (ZTO), layer on hydrothermally grown 3D-zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheet thin films has been proven to have a quenching effect on the photoluminescence emissions, indicating very slow recombination of photoinduced electron–hole pairs in photoelectrochemical water splitting (PEC) reactions. Motivated by this, the ZnO/ZTO bilayer system has been used as the electron transport layer for copper indium gallium sulfide (CIGS)-based photoelectrodes in PEC applications. Furthermore, the poor photoresistivity of CIGS has been improved via indium sulfide (In2S3) deposition. Consequently, the photoelectrode obtained from the inverted configuration, ZnO/ZTO/CIGS/In2S3, has generated a photocurrent density of 6.4 mA cm–2 at 0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl), exceeding the performance of ZnO NS/CIGS/In2S3 photoelectrodes by three folds. The highest ABPE and IPCE efficiencies have been calculated as 4.2% and 57%, respectively. More importantly, two cost-effective nonvacuum techniques for large-scale thin film fabrications such as chemical bath deposition (CBD) and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) methods have been adopted to acquire photoelectrodes with inverted configurations providing an advantageous approach for low-cost photoelectrode design for sustainable energy production.

In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) powders in two different morphologies, nanowire (NW) and nanoflower (NF), have been synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The eligibility of the pristine ZnO nanopowders as a photo-active material has been revealed by designing P-SC devices via the facile drop-casting method on both glass and plastic substrates in large-area applications. The impact of physical properties and especially defect structures on photo-supercapacitor (P-SC) performance have been explored. Although the dark Coulombic efficiency (CE%) of both NW and NF-based P-SC were very close to each other, the CE% of NW P-SC increased 3 times, while the CE% of NF P-SC increased 1.7 times under the UV-light. This is because the charge carriers produced under light excitation, extend the discharge time, and as confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance, photoluminescence, and transmission electron microscopy analyses, the performance of P-SCs made from NF powders was relatively low compared to those produced from NW due to the high core defects in NF powders. The energy density of 78.1 mWh kg−1 obtained for NF-based P-SCs is very promising, and the capacitance retention value of almost 100% for 3000 cycles showed that the P-SCs produced from these materials were entirely stable. Compared to the literature, the P-SCs we propose in this study are essential for new generation energy storage systems, thanks to their ease of design, adaptability to mass production for large-area applications, and their ability to store more energy under illumination.

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This work reports a one-pot chemical bath deposition (CBD) method for the preparation of selectively grown, morphology-tunable zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures provided via straightforward nanosecond fiber laser ablation. Nanosecond fiber laser ablation is different from lithographic methods due to its simple, time saving, and efficient film scribing abilities. Here, multiple morphologies of the ZnO nanostructures on the same substrate have been grown via laser ablation of the ZnO seeding layer. Selective and controlled ablation of the titanium layer, ZnO growth inhibitor, resulted in systematic growth of nanorod arrays, while the application of extensive fluence energies resulted in the penetration of the laser beam until the glass substrate induced the nanoflake growth within the same CBD environment. The laser penetration depth has been numerically investigated via COMSOL Multiphysics heat module simulations, and the optical variations between two nanostructures (nanorod and nanoflake) have been examined via Lumerical FDTD. The simultaneous growth of two morphologies served as an efficient tool for the enhancement of photoluminescence intensities. It increased the average charge carrier lifetimes of the thin films from approximately 2.01 to 9.07 ns under the same excitation wavelengths. The amplification in PL performances has been accomplished via the capstone of all-inorganic halide perovskite (IHP) deposition that brought a successful conclusion to lifetime responses, which have been increased by 1.4-fold. The development of IHP sensitized nanoscaled multimorphological ZnO thin films can, therefore, be used as potential nanomaterials for light-emitting-device applications.

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