Semiconductor nanocrystals are often proposed as a viable route to improve solar energy conversion in photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical systems. Embedding the nanocrystals in, e.g. a transparent and conducting electrode of a solar cell will promote the photon absorption and subsequent transfer of the generated charge carriers from the nanocrystal, and thereby enhance the function of the electrode. This can be accomplished by embedding a semiconducting nanocrystal with a small bandgap in a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), which is commonly utilized as electrode in new generation solar cells. Here, we demonstrate the incorporation, formation, and functionalization of germanium (Ge) nanocrystals in zinc oxide utilizing ion implantation, where post implantation annealing at 800 C results in diamond cubic Ge nanocrystals with sizes between 2 and 20 nm. Photoluminecence spectra show a distinct emission around 0.7 eV arising from the Ge nanocrystals, and with additional emission features up to 1.15 eV due to quantum confinement, demonstrating a novel functionalization and tunability of the TCO electrode.

半导体纳米晶体通常被认为是改善光伏和光电化学系统中太阳能转换的可行途径。将纳米晶体嵌入例如太阳能电池的透明导电电极中将促进光子吸收和随后从纳米晶体产生的电荷载流子的转移，从而增强电极的功能。这可以通过在透明导电氧化物 (TCO) 中嵌入具有小带隙的半导体纳米晶体来实现，透明导电氧化物 (TCO) 通常用作新一代太阳能电池中的电极。在这里，我们展示了利用离子注入在氧化锌中掺入、形成和功能化锗 (Ge) 纳米晶体，其中在 800 C 下注入后退火会产生尺寸在 2 到 20 nm 之间的金刚石立方 Ge 纳米晶体。光致发光光谱显示出由 Ge 纳米晶体产生的大约 0.7 eV 的明显发射，并且由于量子限制而具有高达 1.15 eV 的额外发射特征，证明了 TCO 电极的新型功能化和可调性。