• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2022

The most prevalent cause of solar cell efficiency loss is reduced recombination at the metal electrode and silicon junction. To boost efficiency, a a SiO_X/poly-Si passivating interface is being developed. Poly-Si for passivating contact is formed by various deposition methods (sputtering, PECVD, LPCVD, HWCVD) where the ploy-Si characterization depends on the deposition method. The sputtering process forms a dense Si film at a low deposition rate of 2.6 nm/min and develops a low passivation characteristic of 690 mV. The PECVD process offers a deposition rate of 28 nm/min with satisfactory passivation characteristics. The LPCVD process is the slowest with a deposition rate of 1.4 nm/min, and can prevent blistering if deposited at high temperatures. The HWCVD process has the fastest deposition rate at 150 nm/min with excellent passivation characteristics. However, the uniformity of the deposited film decreases as the area increases. Also, the best passivation characteristics are obtained at high doping. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the doping process depending on the deposition method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.441-441
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• 2009

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been widely investigated as a next-generation solar cell because of their simple fabrication process and low coats. The cells use a porous nanocrystalline TiO2 matrix coated with a sensitizer dye that acts as the light-harvesting element. The photo-exited dye injects electrons into the $TiO_2$ particles, and the oxide dye reacts with I- in the electrolyte in regenerative cycle that is completed by the reduction of $I_3^-$ at a platinum-coated counter electrode. Since $TiO_2$ porous film plays a key role in the enhancement of photoelectric conversion efficiency of DSSC, many scientists focus their researches on it. Especially, a high light-to-electricity conversion efficiency results from particle size and crystallographic phase, film porosity, surface structure, charge and surface area to volume ratio of porous $TiO_2$ electrodes, on which the dye can be sufficiently adsorbed. Effective treatment of the photoanode is important to improve DSSC performance. In this paper, to obtain properties of surface and dispersion as nitric acid treated $TiO_2$ photoelectrode was investigate. The photovoltaic characteristics of DSSCs based the electrode fabricated by nitric acid pre-treatment $TiO_2$ materials gave better performances on both of short circuit current density and open circuit voltage. We compare dispersion of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles before and after nitric acid treatment and measured Ti oxidized state from XPS. Low charge transfer resistance was obtained in nitric acid treated sample than that of untreated sample. The dye-sensitized solar cell based on the nitric acid treatment had open-circuit voltage of 0.71 V, a short-circuit current of 15.2 mAcm-2 and an energy conversion efficiency of 6.6 % under light intensity of $100\;mWcm^{-2}$. About 14 % increases in efficiency obtained when the $TiO_2$ electrode was treated by nitric acid.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.4013-4018
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• 2014

A 0.45 $cm^2$ DSSC device with a glass/FTO/blocking layer/$TiO_2$/N719(dye)/electrolyte/50 nm-Pt/50 nm-Au/FTO/glass was prepared to examine the stability of the Au/Pt bilayered counter electrode (CE) with electrolyte and the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For comparison, a 100 nm-thick Pt only CE DSSC was also prepared using the same method. The photovoltaic properties, such as the short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$), open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$), fill factor (FF), and ECE, were checked using a solar simulator and potentiostat with time after assembling the DSSC. The microstructure of the Au/Pt bilayer was examined by optical microscopy after 0~25 minutes. The ECE of the Pt only CE-employed DSSC was 4.60 %, which did not show time dependence. On the other hand, for the Au/Pt CE DSSC, the ECEs after 0, 5 and 15 minutes were 5.28 %, 3.64 % and 2.09 %, respectively. The corrosion areas of the Au/Pt CE determined by optical microscopy after 0, 5, and 25 minutes were 0, 21.92 and 34.06 %. These results confirmed that the ECE and catalytic activity of Au/Pt CE decreased drastically with time. Therefore, a Au/Pt CE-employed DSSC may be superior to the Pt only CE-employed one immediately after integration of the device, but it would degrade drastically with time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.71-71
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have drawn great academic attention due to their potential as low-cost renewable energy sources. DSCs contain a nanostructured TiO2 photoanode, which is a key-component for high conversion efficiency. Particularly, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructured photoanodes can enhance the electron transport for the efficient collection to the conducting substrate in competition with the recombination processes. This is because photoelectron colletion is determined by trapping/detrapping events along the site of the electron traps (defects, surface states, grain boundaries, and self-trapping). Therefore, 1-D nanostructured photoanodes are advantageous for the fast electron transport due to their desirable features of greatly reduced intercrystalline contacts with specified directionality. In particular, anodic TiO2 nanotube (NT) electrodes recently have been intensively explored owing to their ideal structure for application in DSCs. Besides the enhanced electron transport properties resulted from the 1-D structure, highly ordered and vertically oriented nanostructure of anodic TiO2 NT can contribute additional merits, such as enhanced electrolyte diffusion, better interfacial contact with viscous electrolytes. First, to confirm the advantages of 1-D nanostructured material for the photoelectron collection, we compared the electron transport and charge recombination characteristics between nanoparticle (NP)- and nanorod (NR)-based photoanodes in DSCs by the stepped light-induced transient measurements of photocurrent and voltage (SLIM-PCV). We confirmed that the electron lifetime of the NR-based photoanode was much longer than that of the NP-based photoanode. In addition, highly ordered and vertically oriented TiO2 NT photoanodes were prepared by electrochemical anodization method. We compared the photovoltaic properties of DSCs utilizing TiO2 NT photoanodes prepared by one-step anodization and two-step anodization. And, to reduce the charge recombination rate, energy barrier layer (ZnO, Al2O3)-coated TiO2 NTs also applied in DSC. Furthermore, we applied the TiO2 NT photoanode in DSCs using a viscous electrolyte, i.e., cobalt bipyridyl redox electrolyte, and confirmed that the pore structure of NT array can enhance the performances of this viscous electrolyte.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.624-631
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• 2014

In this study, a new series of conjugated polymer 3-(5-(5,6-bis(octyloxy)-7-(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl)thiophen-2-yl)-10-(4-(octyloxy)phenyl)-10H-phenothiazine (P1) and 3-(5-(5,6-bis(octyloxy)-7-(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl)thiophen-2-yl)-10-(4-((2-ethylhexyl)oxy)phenyl)-10H-phenothiazine (P2) were synthesised and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) properties were characterized. The push-pull structure polymer consisted of phenothiazine derivative as an electron donor and benzothiadiazole derivative as an electron acceptor. The aliphatic chain substituted aromatic ring was substituted at the position of N in phenothiazine for the electron-rich and improved solubility. Excellent thermal stabilities of P1 and P2 were confirmed by measured Td values as 321.9 and $323.7^{\circ}C$, respectively and the degrees of polymerization were 4,911 (P1) and 5,294 (P2). The maximum absorption wavelength of P1 and P2 were 549 and 566 nm, respectively. The device was fabricated and the OPVs property was measured. As a result, the power efficiency of conversion for P1 and P2 were 0.96 and 0.90%, respectively.

• New Physics: Sae Mulli
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• v.68 no.11
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• pp.1208-1214
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• 2018

The one-step spin coating method is reported as an excellent thin film process because it can be easily used to fabricate high-quality methyl-ammonium lead tri-iodide ($MAPbI_3$) perovskite layers. One of the important things in the one-step spin coating method towards obtaining high-quality $MAPbI_3$ layers is the anti-solvent (AS) engineering, which consists of an one-step deposition of the $MAPbI_3$ film and dripping of the AS. The properties of the $MAPbI_3$ layer were found to be strongly influenced by the amount, dispensing speed, and spraying time of the AS solution. The $MAPbI_3$ solution was prepared by dissolving lead iodide and methyl-ammonium iodide in N,N-dimethylformamide and adding N,N-dimethyl sulfoxide. Diethyl ether (DE) was used for the AS solution. The results indicate that a $MAPbI_3$ layer appropriately sprayed with DE is beneficial for improving film quality and device efficiency because nucleation of $MAPbI_3$ layer is affected by the characteristics of DE, which affect the film's crystallinity, density, and surface morphology. The $MAPbI_3$ layer, which was optimized by using 0.7 mL of DE, a 3.03 mL/sec dispensing speed, and a 7 second time to spray after spinning showed the best efficiency of 13.74%, which was reproducible.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.163-175
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• 1995

Metal free phthalocyanine($H_2Pc$) partially doped with iodine, $H_2Pc(I)x$, has been made to improve photosensitizing efficiency of ZnO/$H_2Pc$. The content of iodine dopant level(x) for $H_2Pc(I)x$ upon $H_2Pc$ polymorphs was characterized as ${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$ and ${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ by elemental analysis. Characterization of iodine-oxidized $H_2Pc$ were investigated by TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), UV-Vis, FT-IR, Raman and ESR (electron spin resonance) spectrum, and the adsorption properties of $H_2Pc(I)x$ on ZnO were characterized by means of Raman and ESR studies. TGA for $H_2Pc(I)x$ showed a complete loss of iodine at approximately 265$^{\circ}C$ and the Raman spectrum of $H_2Pc(I)x$ and ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ at 514.5 nm showed characteristic $I_3^-$ patterns in the frequency region 90∼550 $cm^{-1}$. ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ exhibited a very intense and narrow ESR signal at $g=2.0025{\pm}0.0005$ compared to $H_2Pc$/ZnO. Iodine doped ZnO/$H_2Pc(I)x$ showed a better photosensitivity compared to iodine undoped ZnO/$H_2Pc$. That is, the surface photovoltage of ${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$/ZnO was approximately 31 times greater than that of ZnO/${\chi}-H_2Pc$ and ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ was 5 times more efficient than ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc$ at 670 nm. And the dependence of photosensitizing effect upon $H_2Pc$ polymorphs was exhibited that the surface photovoltage of ZnO/${\chi}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.92}$ was approximately 5 times greater than ZnO/${\beta}-H_2Pc(I)_{0.96}$ at 670 nm. Therefore Iodine doping of H_2Pc$ resulted in increase in photoconductivity of $H_2Pc$ and photovoltaic effect of ZnO/$H_2Pc$ in the visible region.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.333-341
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• 2012

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering with different flow rates of $O_2$ gas from 0 to 12 sccm. Electrical and optical properties of these films were characterized and analyzed. ITO deposited on soda lime glass and RF power was 2 kW, frequency was 13.56 MHz, and working pressure was $1.0{\times}10^{-3}$ Torr, Ar gas was fixed at 1,000 sccm. The transmittance was measured at 300~1,100 nm ranges by using Photovoltaic analysis system. Electrical properties were measured by Hall measurement system. ITO thin films surface were measured by Scanning electron microscope. Atomic force microscope surface roughness scan for ITO thin films. ITO thin films secondary electron emission coefficient(${\gamma}$) was measured by ${\gamma}$-Focused ion beam. The resistivity is about $2.4{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and the weighted average transmittance is about 84.93% at 3 sccm oxygen flow rate. Also, we investigated Work-function of ITO thin films by using Auger neutralization mechanism according to secondary electron emission coefficient(${\gamma}$) values. We confirmed secondary electron emission peak at 3 sccm oxygen flow rate.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2015

We synthesized a low band gap alternating copolymer containing electron-rich units (i.e. dithienosiloles and benzodithiophenes) and electron-deficient units (i.e. difluorobenzothiadiazoles) for high performance organic solar cells. The polymer was prepared by the Stille coupling reaction and characterized using $^1H$ NMR, GPC, TGA, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. Solar cells were fabricated in a structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer: $PC_{70}BM/Al$ with five different blending ratios of polymer and $PC_{70}BM$ (1:1.5, 1:2, 1:3, 1:3.5 and 1:4 by weight ratio). The best efficiency was achieved from the 1:3 ratio of polymer and $PC_{70}BM$ in the photoactive layer, and TEM revealed that there is an optimal nanoscale phase separation between polymer and $PC_{70}BM$ in the 1:3 ratio blend film.