일반적인 택코트용 유화아스팔트는 도로 포장면에 살포되고 양생되는 과정에서 공사차량 및 포설장비 타이어에 쉽게 들 러붙어서 포장면의 코팅막 훼손과 같은 심각한 문제를 일으킬 뿐 아니라, 접착력과 전단강도가 약하여 상하 포장층간 부 착력 저하로 균열, 포트홀, 밀림과 같은 포장도로 조기 파손의 주요 원인이 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 택코트 시공 후 양생시간을 현저히 단축시키고 공사차량 통행에 의한 접착 처리면 훼손을 최소화하여 아스팔트 포장의 조기 파손을 방지할 뿐 아니라, 포장체의 장기 공용성능을 크게 향상시키는 초속경성 타이어 미부착 택코트 유화아스팔트 개발과 이를 고속도로 현장에서 적용한 사례에 대해 소개하고자 한다. 해당 기술은 택코트 훼손방지 기능 외에도 폴리머가 함유된 아스팔트를 적용하여 부착강도가 매우 우수하며, 배수성 포장, SMA 포장, 교면 포장 등 특수포장의 공용성 증진효과가 큰 것으로 나타났다. 양생시간 또한 크게 단축되어 1액형 택코트의 경우 30분 이내에 양생이 되며, 양생 촉진제를 적용하는 2액형 택코트는 5분 내에 양생을 완료 시킬수 있어서, 시공시간 단축을 통한 조기 교통개방을 가능하게 한다. 해당 기술은 국토교통부 개질 유화아스팔트 품질기준인 RS(C)-PG70T 규격을 만족하였고, 타이어 부착률이 약 1.5% 대로 우수한 것으로 나타났다. 고속도로 현장 적용성 평가 결과, 양생시간이 5분 이내로 확인되었으며, 시공 후 현장 코어 시편 확인 결과, 택코트층이 잘 보전되어 있었으며, 포장층간의 결합력이 우수하게 유지되었다. 따라서 고속도로 뿐만 아니라 서울시와 같은 도심지 및 택코트의 충분한 양생시간을 확보하기 어려운 아스팔트 유지보수 공사에 본 기술을 적용하는 것은 매우 효과적일 것으로 판단된다.

The Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-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 (Jsc) 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 %, Jsc of 34.0 mA/cm2, and fill factor (FF) of 62.7 %, respectively.

Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) based thin-film solar cells have attracted growing attention because of their earthabundant and non-toxic elements. However, because of their large open-circuit voltage (Voc)-deficit, CZTSSe solar cells exhibit poor device performance compared to well-established Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGS) and CdTe based solar cells. One of the main causes of this large Voc-deficit is poor absorber properties for example, high band tailing properties, defects, secondary phases, carrier recombination, etc. In particular, the fabrication of absorbers using physical methods results in poor surface morphology, such as pin-holes and voids. To overcome this problem and form large and homogeneous CZTSSe grains, CZTSSe based absorber layers are prepared by a sputtering technique with different RTA conditions. The temperature is varied from 510 oC to 540 oC during the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Further, CZTSSe thin films are examined with X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, IPCE, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy techniques. The present work shows that Cu-based secondary phase formation can be suppressed in the CZTSSe absorber layer at an optimum RTA condition.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) based transparent conducting oxides (TCO) thin films, are used in many applications such as solar cells, flat panel displays, and LEDs due to their wide bandgap nature and excellent electrical properties. In the present work, fluorine and aluminium-doped ZnO targets are prepared and thin films are deposited on soda-lime glass substrate using a RF magnetron sputtering unit. The aluminium concentration is fixed at 2 wt%, and the fluorine concentration is adjusted between 0 to 2.0 wt% with five different concentrations, namely, Al2ZnO98(AZO), F0.5AZO97.5(FAZO1), F1AZO97(FAZO2), F1.5AZO96.5(FAZO3), and F2AZO96(FAZO4). Thin films are deposited with an RF power of 40 W and working pressure of 5 m Torr at 270 oC. The morphological analysis performed for the thin film reveals that surface roughness decreases in FAZO1 and FAZO2 samples when doped with a small amount of fluorine. Further, optical and electrical properties measured for FAZO1 sample show average optical transmissions of over 89 % in the visible region and 82.5 % in the infrared region, followed by low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.59 × 10−4 Ωcm and 5.52 Ω/sq, respectively. In future, these thin films with excellent optoelectronic properties can be used for thin-film solar cell and other optoelectronics applications.

Recent advances in technology using ultra-thin noble metal film in oxide/metal/oxide structures have attracted attention because this material is a promising alternative to meet the needs of transparent conduction electrodes (TCE). AZO/ Ag/AZO multilayer films are prepared by magnetron sputtering for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) of kesterite solar cells. It is shown that the electrical and optical properties of the AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films can be improved by the very low resistivity and surface plasmon effects due to the deposition of different thicknesses of Ag layer between oxide layers fixed at AZO 30 nm. The AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer films of Ag 15 nm show high mobility of 26.4 cm2/Vs and low resistivity and sheet resistance of 3.58*10−5 Ωcm and 5.0 Ω/sq. Also, the AZO/Ag (15 nm)/AZO multilayer film shows relatively high transmittance of more than 65% in the visible region. Through this, we fabricated CZTSSe thin film solar cells with 7.51% efficiency by improving the short-circuit current density and fill factor to 27.7 mV/cm2 and 62 %, respectively.

Due to its favorable optical properties, Cu2SnS3 (CTS) is a promising material for thin film solar cells. Doping, which modifies the absorber properties, is one way to improve the conversion efficiency of CTS solar cells. In this work, CTS solar cells with selenium doping were fabricated on a flexible substrate using sputtering method and the effect of doping on the properties of CTS solar cells was investigated. In XRD analysis, a shift in the CTS peaks can be observed due to the doped selenium. XRF analysis confirmed the different ratios of Cu/Sn and (S+Se)/(Cu+Sn) depending on the amount of selenium doping. Selenium doping can help to lower the chemical potential of sulfur. This effectively reduces the point defects of CTS thin films. Overall improved electrical properties were observed in the CTS solar cell with a small amount of selenium doping, and a notable conversion efficiency of 1.02 % was achieved in the CTS solar cell doped with 1 at% of selenium.

Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4(CZTSSe) thin film solar cells areone of the most promising candidates for photovoltaic devices due to their earth-abundant composition, high absorption coefficient and appropriate band gap. The sputtering process is the main challenge to achieving high efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells for industrialization. In this study, we fabricated CZTSSe absorbers on Mo coated soda lime glass using different pressures during the annealing process. As an environmental strategy, the annealing process is performed with S and Se powder, without any toxic H2Se and/or H2S gases. Because CZTSSe thin films have a very narrow stable phase region, it is important to control the condition of the annealing process to achieve high efficiency of the solar cell. To identify the effect of process pressure during the sulfo-selenization, we experiment with varying initial pressure from 600 Torr to 800 Torr. We fabricate a CZTSSe thin film solar cell with 8.24 % efficiency, with 435 mV for open circuit voltage(VOC) and 36.98 mA/cm2 for short circuit current density(JSC), under a highest process pressure of 800 Torr.