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DOE OSTI · 3000535

Hydrazine-free precursor for solution-processed all-inorganic Se and Se 1− x Te x photovoltaics

Alfieri, Adam D. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:000000021185981X)·Das, Swarnendu [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000851976763)·Kisslinger, Kim [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)] (ORCID:0000000265287044)·Everhart, Brian M. [Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)]·Leblanc, Chloe [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000654180125)·Ford, Jamie [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)]·Kagan, Cherie R. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000165402009)·Glavin, Nicholas R. [Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)] (ORCID:0000000294477509)·Stach, Eric A. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000233662153)·Jariwala, Deep [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000235708768)
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Abstract

Selenium (Se) has reemerged as a promising absorber material for indoor and tandem photovoltaics (PVs), and its alloys with Te (Se 1−x Te x ) offer a widely tunable bandgap. Solution processing of this materials system offers a route to low-cost fabrication. However, solution processing of Se has, thus far, only used hydrazine, which is an extremely hazardous solvent. In this work, we prepare and isolate propylammonium poly-Se and poly-Se–Te precursors from a safer thiol-amine solvent system. We formulate molecular inks by dissolving the precursor in dimethylformamide (DMF) with a monoethanolamine (EA) additive and process high-quality Se and Se 1−x Te x films with bandgaps ranging from 1.20 eV to 1.86 eV. We fabricate PVs from these films using TiO 2 and MoO 3 charge transport layers (CTLs) to achieve power conversion efficiencies as high as 2.73% for Se and 2.33% for Se 0.7 Te 0.3 under solar simulation. Se devices show excellent stability with no degradation after 1 month in air, enabled by the excellent stability of Se and the use of inorganic CTLs. This work represents an important step towards low-cost solution-phase processing of Se and Se 1−x Te x alloys for PVs and photodetectors with low toxicity and high bandgap tunability.

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

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Alfieri, Adam D. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:000000021185981X), Das, Swarnendu [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000851976763), Kisslinger, Kim [Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)] (ORCID:0000000265287044), Everhart, Brian M. [Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)], Leblanc, Chloe [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000654180125), Ford, Jamie [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)], Kagan, Cherie R. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000165402009), Glavin, Nicholas R. [Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)] (ORCID:0000000294477509), Stach, Eric A. [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000233662153), Jariwala, Deep [Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000235708768). 2025-10-15. Hydrazine-free precursor for solution-processed all-inorganic Se and Se 1− x Te x photovoltaics. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ta06459g

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DOE OSTI2026

Cyclic moisture reactivation of calcium sorbents for long duration thermochemical energy storage

The transition to a flexible and reliable energy infrastructure, using electro-thermal energy generation technologies such as geothermal, concentrated solar power, and nuclear, usually demands simultaneous advancement of thermal energy storage (TES) to support on-demand electricity generation and industrial applications while mitigating the inherent intermittency of renewable energy sources and power outages from direct energy generation. Among TES technologies, thermochemical energy storage (TCES) based on calcium looping emerges as a compelling high-power energy storage candidate due to its high reaction enthalpy, compatibility with elevated operating temperatures, and abundance of low-cost materials. However, the long-term durability of calcium-based sorbents for TCES is hindered by surface sintering and particle aggregation, leading to performance degradation over repeated thermal cycles. This study explores a moisture hydration-based strategy to regenerate a degraded calcium sorbent and mitigate performance degradation for long duration TCES. The addition of moisture transforms calcium oxide into calcium hydroxide and produces intercalation water layers, associated with a regenerated surface area and reduced calcium oxide crystallite size. Both these effects are beneficial in restoring the sorbents' reactivity for carbonization. Additionally, an optimized hydration-assisted reactivation protocol balances the recovered energy storage capacity with heating penalty required for moisture removal from hydrated samples, resulting in an enhanced energy storage capacity up to 176% compared to benchmark sorbents that undergo cycling without reactivation after 60 cycles. In conclusion, these results highlight the potential of hydration-assisted reactivation to enhance the long-term performance of TCES, providing an effective pathway to advancing electro-thermal storage technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗