• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.3080-3087
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• 2023

Thermoelectric (TE) materials working in radioisotope thermoelectric generators are irradiated by neutrons throughout its service; thus, investigating the neutron irradiation stability of TE devices is necessary. Herein, the influence of neutron irradiation with fluences of 4.56 × 10¹⁰ and 1 × 10¹³ n/cm² by pulsed neutron reactor on the electrical and thermal transport properties of n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 and p-type Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ thermoelectric alloys prepared by cold-pressing and molding is investigated. After neutron irradiation, the properties of thermoelectric materials fluctuate, which is related to the material type and irradiation fluence. Different from p-type thermoelectric materials, neutron irradiation has a positive effect on n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 materials. This result might be due to the increase of carrier mobility and the optimization of electrical conductivity. Afterward, the effects of p-type and n-type TE devices with different treatments on the output performance of TE devices are further discussed. The positive and negative effects caused by irradiation can cancel each other to a certain extent. For TE devices paired with p-type Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ and n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 thermoelectric legs, the generated power and conversion efficiency are stable after neutron irradiation.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.477-485
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• 2023

In this paper, the effect of AC ripple on the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries is experimentally analyzed. Bidirectional power conversion system(PCS) is used to increase the efficiency of energy storage systems (ESS). When connected to the grid, a current ripple with a frequency twice the grid frequency is applied to the battery due to its structure. Therefore, to analyze the effect of AC ripple on Li-ion battery aging, cycle life test are performed by applying charge/discharge profiles of DC current and DC+AC current ripple specifications. Based on the experimental results, direct current internal resistance (DCIR), incremental capacitance (IC), and surface temperature were analyzed. As a result, it is confirmed that AC ripple does not directly affect degradation and that battery degradation slows down after a certain cycle. These results can serve as a guideline for optimizing filters to reduce ripple on the battery side in applications where AC ripple occurs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.219-225
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• 2020

In this study, the prototype of a blower was designed and made to develop a long-life blower with a volume flow rate of 10,000 ㎥/min with a required total pressure efficiency of 83% or more. Five experimental impellers with various lengths of dust deflectors were manufactured and used for the erosion experiments. The erosion test was conducted by operating for 160 hours in a self-produced closed loop-type erosion test apparatus. A prototype of a model blower was designed, fabricated, and tested. The results revealed a total pressure, air volume flow rate, and efficiency of 690.6 mmAq, 16,243.6 ㎥/min, and 83.6%, respectively, as the result of conversion to a blower based on the measured value of the blower model. The prototype was designed and fabricated as the experimental erosion equipment of the blower. A blower with a dust deflector was developed by performing the erosion experiments under harsh conditions. The blower showed an improved effect of more than 190% based on the wear thickness of the impeller compared to a conventional blower without a dust deflector.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.108-113
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• 2016

III-V compound semiconductor based thin film solar cells promise relatively higher power conversion efficiencies and better device reliability. In general, the thin film III-V solar cells are fabricated by an epitaxial lift-off process, which requires an $Al_xGa_{1-x}As$ ($x{\geq}0.8$) sacrificial layer and an inverted solar cell structure. However, the device performance of the inversely grown solar cell could be degraded due to the different internal diffusion conditions. In this study, InGaP/GaAs double-junction solar cells are inversely grown by MOCVD on GaAs (100) substrates. The thickness of the GaAs base layer is reduced to minimize the thermal budget during the growth. A wide band gap p-AlGaAs/n-InGaP tunnel junction structure is employed to connect the two subcells with minimal electrical loss. The solar cell structures are transferred on to thin metal films formed by Au electroplating. An AlAs layer with a thickness of 20 nm is used as a sacrificial layer, which is removed by a HF:Acetone (1:1) solution during the epitaxial lift-off process. As a result, the flexible InGaP/GaAs solar cell was fabricated successfully with an efficiency of 27.79% under AM1.5G illumination. The efficiency was kept at almost the same value after bending tests of 1,000 cycles with a radius of curvature of 10 mm.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2012

The Hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is widely used in photovoltaic industry as an antireflection coating and passivation layer. In the high temperature firing process, the $SiN_x:H$ film should not change the properties for its use as high quality surface layer in crystalline silicon solar cells. Initially PECVD-$SiN_x:H$ film trends were investigated by varying the deposition parameters (temperature, electrode gap, RF power, gas flow rate etc.) to optimize the process parameter conditions. Then by varying gas ratios ($NH_3/SiH_4$), the hydrogenated silicon nitride films were analyzed for its optical, electrical, chemical and surface passivation properties. The $SiN_x:H$ films of refractive indices 1.90~2.20 were obtained. The film deposited with the gas ratio of 3.6 (Refractive index=1.98) showed the best properties in after firing process condition. The single crystalline silicon solar cells fabricated according to optimized gas ratio (R=3.6) condition on large area substrate of size $156{\times}156mm$ (Pseudo square) was found to have the conversion efficiency as high as 17.2%. Optimized hydrogenated silicon nitride surface layer and high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells fabrication sequence has also been explained in this study.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 1998

The crystallized CuPc and PbTe films are formed by thermal evaporation and pulsed ArF excimer laser ablation. Structural and electrical properties of thin film is observed by XRD and current-voltage(I-V) curves. From XRD analysis, both PbTe and CuPc thin films show a-axis oriented structure. For the measurement of photovoltaic effect, the transverse current-voltage curve of CuPc/Si, PbTe/Si and PbTe/CuPc/Si junctions have been analyzed in the dark and under illumination. The PbTe/CuPc/Si junction exthibits a strong photovoltaic characteristics with short circuit current($J_{sc}$) of $25.46\;mA/cm^{2}$ and open-circuit voltage($V_{oc}$) of 170 mV. Quantum efficiency and power conversion efficiency are calculated to be 15.4% and $3.46{\times}10^{-2}$, respectively. Based on the results of QE and ${\eta}$, the photocurrent process of PbTe/CuPc/Si junction can be explained as following three effective steps; photocarrier generation in the CuPc layer, carrier separation at PbTe/CuPc interface, and finally a transportation of electrons through the PbTe layer.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.694-701
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• 2013

A new copolymer named T-TI24T (poly((5,5-(2-butyl-5,6-bisdecyloxy-4,7-di-thiophen-2-yl-isoindole-1,3-dione))- alt-(2,5-thiophene))) based on phthalimide derivative and thiophene is synthesized by the Stille-coupling reaction. The polymer shows relatively high number average molecular weight of 86500 g/mol with good solubility in common organic solvents such as chloroform, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, and toluene and is thermally stable up to $380^{\circ}C$. Besides, it possesses a relatively low highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of -5.33 eV, promising the high open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) for photovoltaic applications. Active layer solution of polymer T-TI24T-as a donor and (6)-1-(3-(methoxycarbonyl)- {5}-1-phenyl[5,6]-fullerene (PCBM)-as an acceptor in different weight ratios is applied to fabricate the polymer solar cell devices. The ratio of polymer/PCBM affects the solar cell efficiency and the best performance exhibits in the device with polymer/PCBM = 1:3 (w/w), which shows a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.199% and a $V_{oc}$ of 0.99 V, respectively. Even though the device shows the very low PCE, the $V_{oc}$ is higher than that of well known bulk heterojunction type solar cell based on P3HT:PC61BM (c.a. 0.5 V).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.481-488
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• 2022

The Cu₂ZnSn(S_xSe_1-x)₄ (CZTSSe) absorbers are promising thin film solar cells (TFSCs) materials, to replace existing Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) and CdTe photovoltaic technology. However, the best reported efficiency for a CZTSSe device, of 13.6 %, is still too low for commercial use. Recently, partially replacing the Zn²⁺ element with a Cd²⁺element has attracting attention as one of the promising strategies for improving the photovoltaic characteristics of the CZTSSe TFSCs. Cd²⁺ elements are known to improve the grain size of the CZTSSe absorber thin films and improve optoelectronic properties by suppressing potential defects, causing short-circuit current (J_sc) loss. In this study, the structural, compositional, and morphological characteristics of CZTSSe and CZCTSSe thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), respectively. The FE-SEM images revealed that the grain size improved with increasing Cd²⁺ alloying in the CZTSSe thin films. Moreover, there was a slight decrease in small grain distribution as well as voids near the CZTSSe/Mo interface after Cd²⁺ alloying. The solar cells prepared using the most promising CZTSSe absorber thin films with Cd²⁺ alloying (8 min. 30 sec.) exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.33 %, J_sc of 34.0 mA/cm², and fill factor (FF) of 62.7 %, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 1994

The characteristics of the type I and type II SHG in LiB305 crystals grown by TSSG method have been investigated using 1064 nm beam from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The measured phase matching angles and angular acceptance bandwidths were $\theta_m=90^{\circ}, \phi_m=11.6^{\circ}$, <$\delta\theta_{int}L_{1/2}=3.3^{\circ}-cm^{1/2}, \theta\phi_{int}L=0.27^{\circ}-cm^{1/2}$ for type I SHG and $\theta_m=20^{\circ}, \phi_m=90^{\circ}$, TEX>$\delta\theta_{int}L_=0.65^{\circ}-cm, \theta\phi_{int}L^{1/2}=3.5^{\circ}-cm^{1/2}$ for type II SHG, respectively. Thp. type I NCPM temperature of 1064 nm beam was found to be $149^{\circ}C$ with the temperature bandwidth $\DeltaTL$of $4.8^{\circ}C-cm$. An energy conversion efficiency of about 1.8% with 2.6 mm thick LBO crystal at an incident power of TEX>$171 MW/\textrm{cm}^2$ was demonstrated. The measured $d_{32} was 0.74\pm0.05 pm/V$..

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.596-601
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• 2020

Silicon carbide is considered a potentially useful material for high-temperature electronic devices because of its large band gap energy and p-type or n-type conduction that can be controlled by impurity doping. Accordingly, the thermoelectric properties of -SiC powder prepared by refined diatomite were investigated for high value-added applications of natural diatomite. -SiC powder was synthesized by a carbothermal reduction of the SiO₂ in refined diatomite using carbon black. An acid-treatment process was then performed to eliminate the remaining impurities (Fe, Ca, etc.). n-Type semiconductors were fabricated by sintering the pressed powder at 2000℃ for 1~5h in an N2 atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to an increase in carrier concentration and improvement in grain-to-grain connectivity. The carrier compensation effect caused by the remaining acceptor impurities (Al, etc.) in the obtained -SiC had a deleterious influence on the electrical conductivity. The absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to a decrease in the stacking fault density accompanied by grain or crystallite growth. On the other hand, the power factor, which reflects the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the present work, was slightly lower than that of the porous SiC semiconductors fabricated by conventional high-purity -SiC powder, it can be stated that the thermoelectric properties could be improved further by precise control of an acid-treatment process.