• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.18-21
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• 2013

$SiO_2$ layer grown by rapid thermal oxidation and $SiN_x$ layer were used for passivating the surface of n-type silicon solar cell, instead of only $SiN_x$ layer generally used in photovoltaic industry. The rapid thermal oxidation provides the reduction of processing time and avoids bulk life time degradation during the processing. Improvement of 30 mV in Voc and $2.7mA/cm^2$ in Jsc was obtained by applying these two layers. This improvement led to fabrication of a large area ($239cm^2$) n-type solar cell with 17.34% efficiency. Internal quantum efficiency measurement indicates that the improvement comes from the front side passivation, but not the rear side, by using $SiO_2/SiN_x$ stack.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.31-38
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• 2013

The chemical composition of the black Cr solar selective coatings electrodeposited were investigated for property analysis by using a XPS(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) before and after annealing in air at $300^{\circ}C{\sim}500^{\circ}C$ for 120 hours. Black Cr selective coating exposed by solar radiation for 5 months was compared with annealed sample. In addition, The Cu solar selective coatings were prepared by thermal oxidation method for low temperature application. The samples obtained were characterized by using the optical reflectance measurements by using a spectrometer. Optical properties of oxidized Cu solar coatings were solar absorptance $({\alpha}){\simeq}0.62$ and thermal emittance $({\epsilon}){\simeq}0.41(100^{\circ}C)$. In the as-prepared Cr black selective coating, the surface of the coating was found to have Cr hydroxide and Cr. The Cr hydroxide of the major component was converted to $Cr_2O_3$ or $CrO_3$ form after annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ with the desorption of water molecules. The black Cr selective coating was degraded significantly at temperature of $500^{\circ}C$. The main optical degradation modes of this coating were diffusion of Cu substrate materials.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.48-56
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• 2011

Black cobalt solar selective coatings were prepared by thermal oxidation of electroplated cobalt metal on copper and nickel substrates. The optical properties and structure of the black cobalt selective coating for solar energy utilizations were characterized by glow discharge spectrometry (GDS), ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) spectrometer, atom force microscopy(AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The optical properties of optimum black cobalt selective coating prepared on copper substrate were a solar absorptance of 0.82 and a thermal emittance of 0.01. From the GDS depth profile analysis of these coatings, the concentration of cobalt particles near the interface was higher than at the surface, but oxygen concentration at the surface was higher than at the interface. These results suggest that the selective absorption was dominated by this chemical composition variation in the coating. The surface of this film exhibited morphology with root-mean-square(rms) roughness of about 144.3nm. XPS measurements data showed that several phases of Co coexist($Co_3O_4$,CoO) in the film.

• Solar Energy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 1989

The thermal degradation of electroplated black chrome coating on Ni substrates has been investigated by using Auger electron spectroscopy technique. The sample was prepared by electroplating at $20^{\circ}C$ for 20 seconds with the current density at $0.4A/cm^2$. Its surface oxidation process was investigated with 1 hour annealed sample for a temperature range of $300-550^{\circ}C$. While its optical solar absorption was dominated by fine metallic Cr particles, thermal degradation was occurred primarily by oxidation of metallic Cr particles as increasing the annealing temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.9-15
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• 2015

Black cobalt solar selective coatings were prepared by using an electroplating method. The changes in the optical properties of the black cobalt selective coating due to thermal degradation were analyzed by using the Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and spectrophotometer. The black cobalt selective coating was prepared on a copper substrate by using a synthesized electrolyte with $CoCl_2$ and KSCN at a current density of ${\sim}0.5A/dm^2$ for 45s ~ 60s. Its optical properties were a solar absorptance (${\alpha}$) of the order of 0.80 ~ 0.84 and a thermal emittance (${\epsilon}$) of 0.01. From the AES depth profile analysis of heated sample, thermal degradation of the black cobalt selective coating heated for 33 hours at temperature of $350^{\circ}C$ occurred primarily due to interdiffusion at interface of cobalt and copper substrate. This results were predictable that the ${\alpha}$ decreases due to the thermal oxidation and diffusion.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.171-171
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• 2009

The electrodes are usually made of a porous mixture of carbon-supported platinum and ionomers. $SnO_2$ particles provide as supports that have been used for DMFCs, and it have high catalytic activities toward methanol oxidation. The main advantage of $SnO_2$ supported electrodes is that it has strong chemical interactions with metallic components. The high activity to a synergistic bifunctional mechanism in which Pt provides the adsorption sites for CO, while oxygen adsorbs dissociative on $SnO_2$. The reaction between the adsorbed species occurs at the Pt/$SnO_2$ boundary. The morphological observations were characterized by FESEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). $SnO_2$ particles crystallinity was analyzed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). The surface bonded state of the $SnO_2$ particles and electrode materials were observed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electric properties of the Pt/$SnO_2$ catalyst for methanol oxidation have been investigated by the cyclic voltametry (CV) in 0.1M $H_2SO_4$ and 0.1M MeOH aqueous solution. The peak current density of methanol oxidation was increased as the $SnO_2$ content in the anode catalysts increased. Pt/$SnO_2$ catalysts improve the removal of CO ads species formed on the platinum surface during methanol electro-oxidation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.14-19
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• 2010

Partial anodic oxidation of Ti-mesh with a wire diameter of ~200[${\mu}m$] produces self-aligned $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays (~50[${\mu}m$] in length) on Ti-mesh substrate. The electrolyte used for anodic oxidation was an ethylene glycol solution with an addition of 1.5 vol. % $H_2O$ and 0.2 wt. % $NH_4F$. A dye-sensitized solar cell utilizing the photoanode structure of $TiO_2$-nanotube/Ti-mesh was fabricated without a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer, in which Ti-mesh replaced the role of TCO. The 1.93[%] photoconversion efficiency was low, which can be attributed to both insufficient dye molecules attachment and limited electrolyte flow to dye molecules. The optimized nanotube diameter and length as well as the $TiCl_4$ treatment can improve cell performance.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.651-655
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• 2017

This work reports the surface morphology and transmittance of copper oxide thin films for semitransparent solar cell applications. We prepared the oxide specimens by subjecting copper thin films to an oxidation reaction at annealing temperatures ranging between $100^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$. The color of the as-deposited specimen was red, but changed to purple at the annealing temperature of $300^{\circ}C$. The surface morphology and transmittance of the specimens were significantly dependent on the annealing temperature and thickness of the copper films. Copper oxide nanoparticles prepared from a 20-nm-thick copper film at an annealing temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ provided a maximum transmittance of 93%. The obtained optical characteristics and surface morphology suggest that copper oxide thin films prepared by an oxidation reaction can be potentially employed as color- and transmittance-adjusting layer in semitransparent thin solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.39-49
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• 2017

Pool boiling, one of the key thermal-hydraulics phenomena, has been widely studied for improving heat transfer efficiencies and safety of nuclear power plants, refrigerating systems, solar-collector heat pipes, and other facilities and equipments. In the present study, the critical heat flux (CHF) and heat-transfer coefficients were tested under the pool-boiling state using graphene M-5 and M-15 nanofluids as well as oxidized graphene M-5 nanofluid. The results showed that the highest CHF increase for both graphene M-5 and M-15 was at the 0.01% volume fraction and, moreover, that the CHF-increase ratio for small-diameter graphene M-5 was higher than that for large-diameter graphene M-15. Also at the 0.01% volume fraction, the oxidized graphene M-5 nanofluid showed a 41.82%-higher CHF-increase ratio and a 26.7%-higher heat-transfer coefficient relative to the same nanofluid without oxidation treatment at the excess temperature where the CHF of distilled water occurs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.70-70
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• 2013

As the costs of carbon-footprinetd fuels grow continuously and simultaneously atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration increases, solar fuels are receiving growing attention as alternative clean energy carriers. These fuels include molecular hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide produced from water, and hydrocarbons converted from carbon dioxide. For high efficiency solar fuel production, not only light absorbers (oxide semiconductors, Si, inorganic complexes, etc) should absorb most sunlight, but also charge separation and interfacial charge transfers need to occur efficiently. With this in mind, this talk will introduce the fundamentals of solar fuel production and artificial photosynthesis, and then discuss in detail on photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting and CO2 conversion. This talk largely divides into two section: PEC water oxidation and PEC CO2 reduction. The former is very important for proton-coupled electron transfer to CO2. For this oxidation, a variety of oxide semiconductors have been tested including TiO2, ZnO, WO3, BiVO4, and Fe2O3. Although they are essentially capable of oxidizing water into molecular oxygen, the efficiency is very low primarily because of high overpotentials and slow kinetics. This challenge has been overcome by coupling with oxygen evolving catalysts (OECs) and/or doping donor elements. In the latter, surface-modified p-Si electrodes are fabricated to absorb visible light and catalyze the CO2 reduction. For modification, metal nanoparticles are electrodeposited on the p-Si and their PEC performance is compared.