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Curran, Seamus

Publications and source records attributed to Curran, Seamus.

5 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Vertically stacked photovoltaic and thermal solar cell

According to some embodiments, the present invention provides a novel photovoltaic solar cell system from photovoltaic modules that are vertically arrayed in a stack format using thin film semiconductors selected from among organic and inorganic thin film semiconductors. The stack cells may be cells that are produced in a planar manner, then vertically oriented in an angular form, also termed herein tilted, to maximize the light capturing aspects. The use of a stack configuration system as described herein allows for the use of a variety of electrode materials, such as transparent materials or semitransparent metals. Light concentration can be achieved by using fresnel lens, parabolic mirrors or derivatives of such structures. The light capturing can be controlled by being reflected back and forth in the photovoltaic system until significant quantities of the resonant light is absorbed. Light that passes to the very end and can be reflected back through the device by beveling or capping the end of the device with a different refractive index material, or alternatively using a reflective surface. The contacting between stacked cells can be done in series or parallel. According to some embodiments, the present invention uses a concentrator architecture where the light is channeled into the cells that contain thermal fluid channels (using a transparent fluid such as water) to absorb and hence reduce the thermal energy generation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Vertically stacked photovoltaic and thermal solar cell

According to some embodiments, the present invention provides a novel photovoltaic solar cell system from photovoltaic modules that are vertically arrayed in a stack format using thin film semiconductors selected from among organic and inorganic thin film semiconductors. The stack cells may be cells that are produced in a planar manner, then vertically oriented in an angular form, also termed herein tilted, to maximize the light capturing aspects. The use of a stack configuration system as described herein allows for the use of a variety of electrode materials, such as transparent materials or semitransparent metals. Light concentration can be achieved by using fresnel lens, parabolic mirrors or derivatives of such structures. The light capturing can be controlled by being reflected back and forth in the photovoltaic system until significant quantities of the resonant light is absorbed. Light that passes to the very end and can be reflected back through the device by beveling or capping the end of the device with a different refractive index material, or alternatively using a reflective surface. The contacting between stacked cells can be done in series or parallel. According to some embodiments, the present invention uses a concentrator architecture where the light is channeled into the cells that contain thermal fluid channels (using a transparent fluid such as water) to absorb and hence reduce the thermal energy generation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Wrapped optoelectronic devices and methods for making same

In various embodiments, optoelectronic devices are described herein. The optoelectronic device may include an optoelectronic cell arranged so as to wrap around a central axis wherein the cell includes a first conductive layer, a semi-conductive layer disposed over and in electrical communication with the first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer disposed over and in electrical communication with the semi-conductive layer. In various embodiments, methods for making optoelectronic devices are described herein. The methods may include forming an optoelectronic cell while flat and wrapping the optoelectronic cell around a central axis. The optoelectronic devices may be photovoltaic devices. Alternatively, the optoelectronic devices may be organic light emitting diodes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2013

Composites comprising biologically-synthesized nanomaterials

The present disclosure describes composite materials containing a polymer material and a nanoscale material dispersed in the polymer material. The nanoscale materials may be biologically synthesized, such as tellurium nanorods synthesized by Bacillus selenitireducens. Composite materials of the present disclosure may have optical limiting properties and find use in optical limiting devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2010

High Efficiency Cascade Solar Cells

This report summarizes the main work performed by New Mexico State University and University of Houston on a DOE sponsored project High Efficiency Cascade Solar Cells. The main tasks of this project include materials synthesis, characterization, theoretical calculations, organic solar cell device fabrication and test. The objective of this project is to develop organic nano-electronic-based photovoltaics. Carbon nanotubes and organic conjugated polymers were used to synthesize nanocomposites as the new active semiconductor materials that were used for fabricating two device architectures: thin film coating and cascade solar cell fiber. Chemical vapor deposition technique was employed to synthesized a variety of carbon nanotubes (single-walled CNT, doubled-walled CNT, multi-walled CNT, N-doped SWCNT, DWCNT and MWCNT, and B-doped SWCNT, DWCNT and MWCNT) and a few novel carbon structures (CNT-based nanolance, nanocross and supported graphene film) that have potential applications in organic solar cells. Purification procedures were developed for removing amorphous carbons from carbon nanotubes, and a controlled oxidation method was established for partial truncation of fullerene molecules. Carbon nanotubes (DWCNT and DWCNT) were functionalized with fullerenes and dyes covalently and used to form nanocomposites with conjugated polymers. Biologically synthesized Tellurium nanotubes were used to form composite with the conjugated polymers as well, which generated the highest reported optical limiting values from composites. Several materials characterization technique including SEM/TEM, Raman, AFM, UV-vis, adsorption and EDS were employed to characterize the physical and chemical properties of the carbon nanotubes, the functionalized carbon nanotubes and the nanocomposites synthesized in this project. These techniques allowed us to have a spectroscopic and morphological control of the composite formation and to understand the materials assembled. A parallel 136-CPU Beowulf computer cluster was launched intended to be used as the main computational tool for the theoretical part of this project. The mechanism of surface carboxylation of pristine and defective carbon nanotubes were studied using the computation method. Theoretical studies of boron- and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes functionalized with chemical groups, and CdSe/ZnSe, ZnSe/CdSe, CdTe/ZnTe, and ZnTe/CdTe core-shell semiconductor nanoparticles embedded in electroactive polymers were also carried out. We have successfully fabricated singular champion cells with Voc of 0.6 V and Jsc of 15 mA, and developed the pixel cells and with a working areas over 25mm 2 , 2.5 % efficiency for a multicell arrangement, and a stability of 40% of their initial efficiency after 11,000 minutes. We have also demonstrated the feasibility of using a gold film as an alternative semi-transparent electrode for organic solar cell applications. An efficiency of 1.9 % (J SC of 7.01 mA/cm 2 , V OC of 0.55 V, FF of 0.49) can be reached by using the gold film as an anode instead of ITO. Two new vertical organic solar cell architectures: stack cells and wrap cells, suitable as an alternative to planar devices were developed as well. We have proved the feasibility of replacing ITO with more traditional metals without hindering performance, and developed natural encapsulation techniques during device fabrication. Optical modeling of the stack cells was also performed to enhance our understanding of this device configuration.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗