Synthesis of atomically designed nanorod structures in different compositions and investigation of their photoelectric properties

The production of nano-particles depending on their changes in shapes and compositions is the basis for the creation of high-performance structures in many different applications. In addition, it is crucial to develop and optimize more feasible production methods for mostly used and reported inorganic semiconductors with various particle shapes and chemical compositions. Among inorganic semiconductors, nano chalcogenides have an important place in energy applications due to their prominent features such as their non-toxic nature and chemical structure containing abundant elements. In this thesis, quaternary Cu2BSnS4 (B: Zn, Ni, Co, Mn) and ternary CuxBySz particles were successfully synthesized by controlling shape and phase structure through the hot-injection method that is accepted as simple and fast compared to many other counterparts. Furthermore, production trials of these composite materials were carried out with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Synthesized nano-particles were employed as counter electrodes on dye-sensitized solar cells and the performances of produced solar cells were expounded by comparing with platinum used as the reference electrode. It was determined from obtained results that the efficiencies of the synthesized particles are comparable to that of the platinum electrode. Consequently, in this thesis study, nano-particles with different compositions and shapes were successfully synthesized by the hot-injection method and it has been shown that these particles can be used as alternatives materials to platinum in solar energy applications.