Photoanode optimization is a fascinating technique for enlightening the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this present study, V2O5/ ZnO and reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-V2O5/ZnO nanocomposites (NCs) were prepared by the solid-state technique and used as photoanodes for DSSCs. A wet chemical technique was implemented to generate individual V2O5 and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The structural characteristics of the as-synthesized NCs were investigated and confirmed using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The average crystallite size (D) of the as-synthesized V2O5/ ZnO and rGO-V2O5/ZnO NCs was determined by Debye-Scherer’s formula. The bandgap (eV) energy was calculated from Tauc’s plots, and the bonding nature and detection of the excitation of electrons were investigated using the Ultra violet (UV) visible spectra, Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) and photoluminescence (PL) spectral analysis. Electrical studies like Hall effect analysis and the Nyquist plots are also described. The V2O5/ ZnO and rGO-V2O5/ZnO NCs based DSSCs exhibited 0.64% and 1.27% of PCE and the short circuit current densities and open circuit voltages improved from 7.10 to 11.28 mA/cm2 and from 0.57 to 0.68 V, respectively.

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are promising materials for the construction of energy devices, particularly organic solar cells. In the electrospinning process, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) has been utilized to generate nanofibers, which is the simplest and most popular method of creating carbon nanofibers (CNFs) followed by carbonization. The CNFs are coated on stainless steel (SS) plates and involve an electropolymerization process. The prepared Cu, CNF, CNF–Cu, PANI, PANI–Cu, CNF–PANI, and CNF–PANI–Cu electrode materials’ electrical conductivity was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution. Compared to others, the CNF–PANI–Cu electrode has higher conductivity that range is 3.0 mA. Moreover, the PANI, CNF–PANI, and CNF–PANI–Cu are coated on FTO plates and characterized for their optical properties (absorbance, transmittance, and emission) and electrical properties (CV and Impedance) for organic solar cell application. The functional groups, and morphology-average roughness of the electrode materials found by FT–IR, XRD, XPS, SEM, and TGA exhibit a strong correlation with each other. Finally, the electrode materials that have been characterized serve to support and act as the nature of the hole transport for organic solar cells.

Recently, the electron transport layer (ETL) has become one of the key components for high-performance perovskite solar cell (PSC). This study is motivated by the nonreproducible performance of ETL made of spin coated SnO2 applied to a PSC. We made a comparative study between tin oxide deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) or spin coating to be used as an ETL in N-I-P PSC. 15 nm-thick Tin oxide thin films were deposited by ALD using tetrakisdimethylanmiotin (TDMASn) and using reactant ozone at 120 °C. PSC using ALD SnO2 as ETL showed a maximum efficiency of 18.97 %, and PSC using spin coated SnO2 showed a maximum efficiency of 18.46 %. This is because the short circuit current (Jsc) of PSC using the ALD SnO2 layer was 0.75 mA/cm2 higher than that of the spin coated SnO2. This result can be attributed to the fact that the electron transfer distance from the perovskite is constant due to the thickness uniformity of ALD SnO2. Therefore ALD SnO2 is a candidate as a ETL for use in PSC vacuum deposition.

Solar cells based on p-conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) organic molecular systems are a promising alternative to conventional electrical energy generation. D-A molecular systems, which have a triphenylamine (TPA) moiety linked with a benzothiadiazole (BTD) moiety, open the potential development of new small molecule donors for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. Here, a series of donor-acceptor-π-acceptor (D-A-π-A) small molecule donors (SMD) derived from triphenylamine (TPA) donor and benzothiadiazole (BTD) acceptor building blocks, were designed for BHJ organic solar cells. The small molecule donors SMD1-4 were studied using density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent-DFT (TDDFT) methods, to understand the effect of cyano and fluorine group functionalization on their properties. The effect of structure alteration by cyano and fluorine group functionalization on the optoelectronic properties, the calculated highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) and the HOMO-LUMO gaps were theoretically explored. The Voc (open-circuit photovoltage) and fill factor (FF) for SMD1-4 were obtained with a PC71BM acceptor, which showed that these organic small molecules are potential small molecule donors for organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.

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.

최근 비풀러렌 전자수용체 소재 개발로 태양전지 및 광검출기 등 유기광다이오드 분야의 상당한 진보를 나타내고 있 다. 비풀러렌 소재의 자유로운 구조 개질 가능성을 바탕으로 흡광대역 자유 제어가 가능한 장점으로, 기존 태양전지 에서 구현이 힘들었던 고성능 반투명 태양전지, 실내 저조도 태양전지, 파장선택적 광검출기 등 다양한 응용을 가능 하게 한다. 본 리뷰에서는 유기태양전지를 비롯한 유기광다이오드의 광활성층에 활용되는 유기반도체 소재의 최신 연 구동향에 대해 다루고자 한다.

This study compares the characteristics of a compact TiO2 (c-TiO2) powdery film, which is used as the electron transport layer (ETL) of perovskite solar cells, based on the manufacturing method. Additionally, its efficiency is measured by applying it to a carbon electrode solar cell. Spin-coating and spray methods are compared, and spraybased c-TiO2 exhibits superior optical properties. Furthermore, surface analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) exhibits the excellent surface properties of spray-based TiO2. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) is 14.31% when applied to planar perovskite solar cells based on metal electrodes. Finally, carbon nanotube (CNT) film electrode-based solar cells exhibits a 76% PCE compared with that of metal electrodebased solar cells, providing the possibility of commercialization.

We fabricated 3 types of ETL, mp TiO2, ZnO, and ZnO coated on mp TiO2(ZMT) to compare the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) and fill factor (FF) of Perovskite solar cells. The structure of the cells was FTO/ETL/Perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3)/spiro-MeOTAD/Ag. SEM morphology assessment of the ETLs showed that mp TiO2 was porous, ZnO was flat, and the ZMT porous surface was filled with a thin layer. Via XRD measurements, the crystal structures of mp TiO2 and ZnO ETL were found to be anatase and wurtzite, respectively. The XPS patterns showing energy bonding of mp TiO2, ZnO, and ZMT O 1s confirmed these materials to be metal oxides such as ETL. The electrical characteristics of the Perovskite solar cells were measured using a solar simulator. Perovskite solar cells with ZMT ETL showed showed PCE of 10.29 % than that of conventional mp TiO2 ETL devices. This was considered a result of preventing Perovskite from seeping into the ETL and preventing recombination of electrons and holes.

Generally, Au electrodes are the preferred top metal electrodes in most perovskite solar cells (PSCs) because of their appropriate work function for hole transportation and their resistance to metal-halide formation. However, for the commercialization of PSCs, the development of alternative metal electrodes for Au is essential to decrease their fabrication cost. Ag electrodes are considered one of the most suitable alternatives for Au electrodes because they are relatively cheaper and can provide the necessary stability for oxidation. However, Ag electrodes require an aging-induced recovery process and react with halides from perovskite layers. Herein, we propose a bilayer Au/Ag electrode to overcome the limitations of single Au and Ag metal electrodes. The performance of PSCs based on bilayer electrodes is comparable to that of PSCs with Au electrodes. Furthermore, by using the bilayer electrode, we can eliminate the aging process, normally an essential process for Ag electrodes. This study not only demonstrates an effective method to substitute for expensive Au electrodes but also provides a possibility to overcome the limitations of Ag electrodes.

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.

페로브스카이트 태양전지는 빠른 속도로 효율 개선이 이루어지며 차세대 친환경 에너지원으로 각광받고 있다. 가공 매개변수의 영향을 강하게 받는 유-무기 혼합 페로브스카이트 태양전지에서 고품질의 광 활성층을 제조하는 것은 매우 중요하다. 본 연구에서는 Methylammonium Lead Iodide(MAPbI3) 광 활성층 제작 시, 결정화가 이루어지는 열처리 과정에서 압력을 가함으로써 용매가 증발하는 속도를 조절할 수 있는 가압열처리 공정방법(pressure assisted annealing process, PA method)을 개발하였다. 본 연구에서 개발한 광 활성층 제조방법은 보다 오래 용매를 활성층 내에 머물게 할 수 있어서 MAPbI3의 중간단계에서 그레인의 성장을 극대화 할 수 있으며, 이를 통해 고품질 페로브스카이트 광 활성층의 제조를 가능하게 한다. 또한 본 가압열처리 방법으로 형성시킨 페로브스카이트 광 활성층을 도입하여 태양전지를 제조하였을 경우, 소자의 최고 성능은 기존의 방법으로 제조된 소자와 비교하여 24.4 mA cm-2의 높은 단락 전류밀도, 0.96 V의 개방전압, 0.75의 필 팩터를 나타내며 17.3 %의 에너지 전환효율을 나타내었다.

Silicon heterojunction solar cells can achieve high conversion efficiency with a simple structure. In this study, we investigate the passivation characteristics of VOx thin films as a hole-selective contact layer using ALD (atomic layer deposition). Passivation characteristics improve with iVoc (implied open-circuit voltage) of 662 mV and minority carrier lifetime of 73.9 μs after post-deposition annealing (PDA) at 100 oC. The improved values are mainly attributed to a decrease in carbon during the VOx thin film process after PDA. However, once it is annealed at temperatures above 250 oC the properties are rapidly degraded. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to analyze the chemical states of the VOx thin film. As the annealing temperature increases, it shows more formation of SiOx at the interface increases. The ratio of V5+ to V4+, which is the oxidation states of vanadium oxide thin films, are 6:4 for both as-deposition and annealing at 100 oC, and 5:5 for annealing at 300 oC. The lower the carbon content of the ALD VOx film and the higher the V5+ ratio, the better the passivation characteristics.

The two key variables of an Si solar cell, i.e., emitter (n-type window layer) and base (p-type substrate) doping levels or concentrations, are studied using Medici, a 2-dimensional semiconductor device simulation tool. The substrate is ptype and 150 μm thick, the pn junction is 2 μm from the front surface, and the cell is lit on the front surface. The doping concentration ranges from 1 × 1010 cm−3 to 1 × 1020 cm−3 for both emitter and base, resulting in a matrix of 11 by 11 or a total of 121 data points. With respect to increasing donor concentration (Nd) in the emitter, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is little affected throughout, and the short-circuit current (Isc) is affected only at a very high levels of Nd, exceeding 1 × 1019 cm−3, dropping abruptly by about 12%, i.e., from Isc = 6.05 × 10−9 A·μm−1, at Nd = 1 × 1019 cm−3 to Isc = 5.35 × 10−9 A·μm−1 at Nd = 1 × 1020 cm−3, likely due to minority-carrier, or hole, recombination at the very high doping level. With respect to increasing acceptor concentration (Na) in the base, Isc is little affected throughout, but Voc increases steadily, i.e, from Voc = 0.29 V at Na = 1 × 1012 cm−3 to 0.69 V at Na = 1 × 1018 cm−3. On average, with an order increase in Na, Voc increases by about 0.07 V, likely due to narrowing of the depletion layer and lowering of the carrier recombination at the pn junction. At the maximum output power (Pmax), a peak value of 3.25 × 10−2 W· cm−2 or 32.5 mW· cm−2 is observed at the doping combination of Nd = 1 × 1019 cm−3, a level at which Si is degenerate (being metal-like), and Na = 1 × 1017 cm−3, and minimum values of near zero are observed at very low levels of Nd ≤ 1 × 1013 cm−3. This wide variation in Pmax, even within a given kind of solar cell, indicates that selecting an optimal combination of donor and acceptor doping concentrations is likely most important in solar cell engineering.

In the recent years, thin film solar cells (TFSCs) have emerged as a viable replacement for crystalline silicon solar cells and offer a variety of choices, particularly in terms of synthesis processes and substrates (rigid or flexible, metal or insulator). Among the thin-film absorber materials, SnS has great potential for the manufacturing of low-cost TFSCs due to its suitable optical and electrical properties, non-toxic nature, and earth abundancy. However, the efficiency of SnS-based solar cells is found to be in the range of 1 ~ 4 % and remains far below those of CdTe-, CIGS-, and CZTSSe-based TFSCs. Aside from the improvement in the physical properties of absorber layer, enormous efforts have been focused on the development of suitable buffer layer for SnS-based solar cells. Herein, we investigate the device performance of SnS-based TFSCs by introducing double buffer layers, in which CdS is applied as first buffer layer and ZnMgO films is employed as second buffer layer. The effect of the composition ratio (Mg/(Mg+Zn)) of RF sputtered ZnMgO films on the device performance is studied. The structural and optical properties of ZnMgO films with various Mg/(Mg+Zn) ratios are also analyzed systemically. The fabricated SnS-based TFSCs with device structure of SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnMgO/AZO/Al exhibit a highest cell efficiency of 1.84 % along with open-circuit voltage of 0.302 V, short-circuit current density of 13.55 mA cm−2, and fill factor of 0.45 with an optimum Mg/(Mg + Zn) ratio of 0.02.

In this study, partially dry transfer is investigated to solve the problem of fully dry transfer. Partially dry transfer is a method in which multiple layers of graphene are dry-transferred over a wet-transferred graphene layer. At a wavelength of 550 nm, the transmittance of the partially dry-transferred graphene is seen to be about 3% higher for each layer than that of the fully dry-transferred graphene. Furthermore, the sheet resistance of the partially drytransferred graphene is relatively lower than that of the fully dry-transferred graphene, with the minimum sheet resistance being 179 Ω/sq. In addition, the fully dry-transferred graphene is easily damaged during the solution process, so that the performance of the organic photovoltaics (OPV) does not occur. In contrast, the best efficiency achievable for OPV using the partially dry-transferred graphene is 2.37% for 4 layers.

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.

ZnO thin films are of considerable interest because they can be customized by various coating technologies to have high electrical conductivity and high visible light transmittance. Therefore, ZnO thin films can be applied to various optoelectronic device applications such as transparent conducting thin films, solar cells and displays. In this study, ZnO rod and thin films are fabricated using aqueous chemical bath deposition (CBD), which is a low-cost method at low temperatures, and environmentally friendly. To investigate the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO for the presence of citrate ion, which can significantly affect crystal form of ZnO, various amounts of the citrate ion are added to the aqueous CBD ZnO reaction bath. As a result, ZnO crystals show a nanorod form without citrate, but a continuous thin film when citrate is above a certain concentration. In addition, as the citrate concentration increases, the electrical conductivity of the ZnO thin films increases, and is almost unchanged above a certain citrate concentration. Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell substrates are used to evaluate whether aqueous CBD ZnO thin films can be applicable to real devices. The performance of aqueous CBD ZnO thin films shows performance similar to that of a sputter-deposited ZnO:Al thin film as top transparent electrodes of CIGS solar cells.

Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters – the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT – to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.

정공 및 전자 수송층은 페로브스카이트 소자에서 효율 및 안정성을 증가시키는 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 특히, NiO가 정공수송층 으로서 태양 전지 장치의 효율을 향상시키는 데 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 알려져 있기 때문에 대부분의 연구자들이 태양 전지의 HTL(hole transport layer) 물질로서 NiO를 연구하고 있다. 본 연구는 NiO를 스크린 인쇄 및 스핀 코팅 방법으로 각각 제조 및 비교실험 하였으며, 서로의 특이점을 확인하고자 하였다. 실험결과 스크린 인쇄 기술로 10.65 %의 태양 전지 효율을 달성 한 반면 스핀 코팅 된 HTL로 18.61 % 효율을 달성했으며 또한 AFM 분석을 사용하여 HTL 층의 거칠기를 연 구하였다. 스크린 프린팅으로 형성된 필름의 불균일성으로 인해 HTL 필름에서 효율이 감소하는 것으로 밝혀졌다.

정공 수송 층 (HTL)은 PSC의 효율 및 안정성을 증가시키기 위해 페로브스카이트 태양 전지 (PSC)에서 중요한 역할을 한다. 본 연구에서, 우리는 PSCs에서 HTL 스핀 코팅 및 블레이드 코팅 방법으로 니켈 산화물 구리 산화물 (NiO-CuO) 나노 입자 (NPs) 박막을 준비하였다. 스핀 코팅 및 블레이드 코팅 된 NiO-CuO 필름의 필름 특성은 원자력 현미경 (AFM)을 사용하여 조사하었고, 장치 성능에 대한 효과는 J-V 특성, 양자 효율 및 광 강도의 Voc 의존성을 사용하여 조사하었다. 결과적으로, 스핀 코팅으로 15.28 % 효율, 블레이드 코팅으로 11.18 % 효율을 달성하였다.