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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Quantum funneling in blended multi-band gap core/shell colloidal quantum dot solar cells

Multi-band gap heterojunction solar cells fabricated from a blend of 1.2 eV and 1.4 eV PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) show poor device performance due to non-radiative recombination. To overcome this, a CdS shell is epitaxially formed around the PbS core using cation exchange. From steady state and transient photoluminescence measurements, we understand the nature of charge transfer between these quantum dots. Photoluminescence decay lifetimes are much longer in the PbS/CdS core/shell blend compared to PbS only, explained by a reduction in non-radiative recombination resulting from CdS surface passivation. PbS/CdS heterojunction devices sustain a higher open-circuit voltage and lower reverse saturation current as compared to PbS-only devices, implying lower recombination rates. Further device performance enhancement is attained by modifying the composition profile of the CQD species in the absorbing layer resulting in a three dimensional quantum cascade structure.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Charge transport mechanism analysis of Al/CdS:Sr{sup 2+}/ITO device under dark and light

In this study, we have synthesized CdS:Sr{sup 2+} by hydrothermal technique. Material property has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. XRD data revealed that there are mixed phases of CdS and SrS in the synthesized sample. The optical band gap of the material was estimated as 3.15 eV from UV-vis data. The synthesized material has been applied in metal-semiconductor device and transport properties have been analyzed by measuring current–voltage characteristics under dark and light conditions at room temperature. Variation in different device parameters like ideality factor, barrier height and series resistance of Al/CdS:Sr{sup 2+}/ITO device were analyzed by using Cheung’s function.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Ethanol gas sensing by Zn-doped CdS/CdTe nanoparticles

Zn-doped CdS/CdTe nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and studied here for gas sensing. The crystallographic properties of the samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), which shows cubic structure for CdS and CdTe NPs. The three longitudinal optical phonon modes at 298, 595 and 895 cm{sup −1} were obtained from Raman spectrum and this also reveals the cubic structure of CdS NPs. The band gap for Zn-doped CdS/CdTe NPs increased slightly when compared with pure sample. The ethanol gas sensing in CdS/CdTe NPs shows an enhancement on Zn substitution.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Band offset at the heterojunction interfaces of CdS/ZnSnP{sub 2}, ZnS/ZnSnP{sub 2}, and In{sub 2}S{sub 3}/ZnSnP{sub 2}

Heterojunctions were formed between ZnSnP{sub 2} and buffer materials, CdS, ZnS, and In{sub 2}S{sub 3}, using chemical bath deposition. The band offset was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy based on Kraut method. The conduction band offset, ΔE{sub C}, between ZnSnP{sub 2} and CdS was estimated to be −1.2 eV, which significantly limits the open circuit voltage, V{sub OC}. Conversely, ΔE{sub C} at the heterojunction between ZnSnP{sub 2} and ZnS was +0.3 eV, which is within the optimal offset range. In the case of In{sub 2}S{sub 3}, ΔE{sub C} was a relatively small value, −0.2 eV, and In{sub 2}S{sub 3} is potentially useful as a buffer layer in ZnSnP{sub 2} solar cells. The J−V characteristics of heterojunction diodes with an Al/sulfides/ZnSnP{sub 2} bulk/Mo structure also suggested that ZnS and In{sub 2}S{sub 3} are promising candidates for buffer layers in ZnSnP{sub 2} thin film solar cells, and the band alignment is a key factor for the higher efficiency of solar cells with heterojunctions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

A structure of CdS/Cu{sub x}S quantum dots sensitized solar cells

This work introduces a type of CdS/Cu{sub x}S quantum dots (QDs) as sensitizers in quantum dot sensitized solar cells by in-situ cationic exchange reaction method where CdS photoanode is directly immersed in CuCl{sub 2} methanol solution to replace Cd{sup 2+} by Cu{sup 2+}. The p-type Cu{sub x}S layer on the surface of the CdS QDs can be considered as hole transport material, which not only enhances the light harvesting of photoanode but also boosts the charge separation after photo-excitation. Therefore, both the electron collection efficiency and power conversion efficiency of the solar cell are improved from 80% to 92% and from 1.21% to 2.78%, respectively.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Engineered band structure for an enhanced performance on quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

A photon-to-current efficiency of 2.93% is received for the Mn-doped CdS (MCdS)-quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) using Mn:ZnO (MZnO) nanowire as photoanode. Hydrothermal synthesized MZnO are spin-coated on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass with P25 paste to serve as photoanode after calcinations. MCdS was deposited on the MZnO film by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. The long lived excitation energy state of Mn{sup 2+} is located inside the conduction band in the wide bandgap ZnO and under the conduction band of CdS, which increases the energetic overlap of donor and acceptor states, reducing the “loss-in-potential,” inhibiting charge recombination, and accelerating electron injection. The engineered band structure is well reflected by the electrochemical band detected using cyclic voltammetry. Cell performances are evidenced by current density-voltage (J-V) traces, diffuse reflectance spectra, transient PL spectroscopy, and incident photon to current conversion efficiency characterizations. Further coating of CdSe on MZnO/MCdS electrode expands the light absorption band of the sensitizer, an efficiency of 4.94% is received for QDSSCs.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

A computational ab initio study of surface diffusion of sulfur on the CdTe (111) surface

In order to discern the formation of epitaxial growth of CdS shell over CdTe nanocrystals, kinetics related to the initial stages of the growth of CdS on CdTe is investigated using ab-initio methods. We report diffusion of sulfur adatom on the CdTe (111) A-type (Cd-terminated) and B-type (Te-terminated) surfaces within the density functional theory (DFT). The barriers are computed by applying the climbing Nudge Elastic Band (c-NEB) method. From the results surface hopping emerges as the major mode of diffusion. In addition, there is a distinct contribution from kick-out type diffusion in which a CdTe surface atom is kicked out from its position and is replaced by the diffusing sulfur atom. Also, surface vacancy substitution contributes to the concomitant dynamics. There are sites on the B- type surface that are competitively close in terms of the binding energy to the lowest energy site of epitaxy on the surface. The kick-out process is more likely for B-type surface where a Te atom of the surface is displaced by a sulfur adatom. Further, on the B-type surface, subsurface migration of sulfur is indicated. Furthermore, the binding energies of S on CdTe reveal that on the A-type surface, epitaxial sites provide relatively higher binding energies and barriers than on B-type.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Nanoshell quantum dots: Quantum confinement beyond the exciton Bohr radius

Nanoshell quantum dots (QDs) represent a novel class of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), which supports tunable optoelectronic properties over the extended range of particle sizes. Traditionally, the ability to control the bandgap of colloidal semiconductor NCs is limited to small-size nanostructures, where photoinduced charges are confined by Coulomb interactions. A notorious drawback of such a restricted size range concerns the fact that assemblies of smaller nanoparticles tend to exhibit a greater density of interfacial and surface defects. This presents a potential problem for device applications of semiconductor NCs where the charge transport across nanoparticle films is important, as in the case of solar cells, field-effect transistors, and photoelectrochemical devices. Furthermore, the morphology of nanoshell QDs addresses this issue by enabling the quantum-confinement in the shell layer, where two-dimensional excitons can exist, regardless of the total particle size. Such a geometry exhibits one of the lowest surface-to-volume ratios among existing QD architectures and, therefore, could potentially lead to improved charge-transport and multi-exciton characteristics. The expected benefits of the nanoshell architecture were recently demonstrated by a number of reports on the CdS bulk /CdSe nanoshell model system, showing an improved photoconductivity of solids and increased lifetime of multi-exciton populations. Along these lines, this perspective will summarize the recent work on CdS bulk /CdSe nanoshell colloids and discuss the possibility of employing other nanoshell semiconductor combinations in light-harvesting and lasing applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Stable random lasing in CdSSe micropowders

The random lasing in CdS micropowder in the green region (near 520 nm) at room temperature under optical pumping by pulsed Nd{sup 3+} : YAG and N{sub 2} lasers at wavelengths of 355 and 337 nm, respectively, is studied. The influence of fluctuations of pump pulse output energy on the random lasing action in CdS micropowder is determined. It is shown that the use of a pump laser with highly stable output power and high spatial beam uniformity (in particular, an N{sub 2} laser) provides stable random lasing in CdSSe micropowders. The lasing is characterised by the presence of a clear structure of narrow lines in the spectrum and stability of their position during pulsed operation at a repetition rate of 700 Hz at wavelengths of 525, 570, 600, and 650 nm with thresholds in the range of 1100 – 1600 kW cm{sup −2}. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spectroscopic elucidation of energy transfer in hybrid inorganic–biological organisms for solar-to-chemical production

We present that the rise of inorganic–biological hybrid organisms for solar-to-chemical production has spurred mechanistic investigations into the dynamics of the biotic–abiotic interface to drive the development of next-generation systems. The model system, Moorella thermoacetica–cadmium sulfide (CdS), combines an inorganic semiconductor nanoparticle light harvester with an acetogenic bacterium to drive the photosynthetic reduction of CO 2 to acetic acid with high efficiency. In this work, we report insights into this unique electrotrophic behavior and propose a charge-transfer mechanism from CdS to M. thermoacetica. Transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy revealed that photoexcited electron transfer rates increase with increasing hydrogenase (H 2 ase) enzyme activity. On the same time scale as the TA spectroscopy, time-resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy showed spectral changes in the 1,700–1,900-cm -1 spectral region. The quantum efficiency of this system for photosynthetic acetic acid generation also increased with increasing H 2 ase activity and shorter carrier lifetimes when averaged over the first 24 h of photosynthesis. However, within the initial 3 h of photosynthesis, the rate followed an opposite trend: The bacteria with the lowest H 2 ase activity photosynthesized acetic acid the fastest. These results suggest a two-pathway mechanism: a high quantum efficiency charge-transfer pathway to H 2 ase generating H 2 as a molecular intermediate that dominates at long time scales (24 h), and a direct energy-transducing enzymatic pathway responsible for acetic acid production at short time scales (3 h). Lastly, this work represents a promising platform to utilize conventional spectroscopic methodology to extract insights from more complex biotic–abiotic hybrid systems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Current enhancement of CdTe-based solar cells

We report on the realization of CdTe solar cell photocurrent enhancement using an n-type CdSe heterojunction partner sputtered on commercial SnO 2 /SnO 2 :F coated soda-lime glass substrates. With high-temperature close-space sublimation CdTe deposition followed by CdCl 2 activation, this thin-film stack allows for substantial interdiffusion at the CdSe/CdTe interface facilitating a CdSe x Te 1-x alloy formation. The bowing effect causes a reduced optical bandgap of the alloyed absorber layer and, therefore, leads to current enhancement in the long-wavelength region and a decrease in open-circuit voltage (V OC ). To overcome the V OC loss and maintain a high short-circuit current (J SC ), the CdTe cell configuration has been modified using combined CdS:O/CdSe window layers. The new device structure has demonstrated enhanced collection from both short-and long-wavelength regions as well as a V OC improvement. With an optimized synthesis process, a small-area cell using CdS:O/CdSe window layer showed an efficiency of 15.2% with a V OC of 831 mV, a J SC of 26.3 mA/cm 2 , and a fill factor of 69.5%, measured under an AM1.5 illumination without antireflection coating. Furthermore, the results provide new directions for further improvement of CdTe-based solar cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Microstructure of Degraded CdTe Mini-Modules

In this paper, we employ transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) to study the structure and chemistry of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cells with different extents of degradation. The studied regions originate from the same photovoltaic mini-module, which was subjected to one-sun light exposure at a temperature of 100 degrees C for 400 h to induce light and heat degradation. EDS maps reveal a discontinuous CdS layer and particles rich in O and S but Te-depleted within the CdTe absorber layer after the light and heat stress. These features could act as enhanced recombination centers, resulting in decreased photovoltaic conversion efficiency. Additionally, the most degraded CdTe sample shows a strong accumulation of Na precisely localized in the discontinuous part of the CdS layer. The local Na concentration is determined to be ~16 at.%. In addition, appreciable Na accumulation is observed at the soda-lime glass/transparent conductive oxide interface in both degraded CdTe solar cells. The microstructure of the baseline CdTe mini-module with no stress was also investigated to demonstrate that the structure difference was caused by the light- and heat-induced degradation, instead of module fabrication. These results highlight the need to control the distribution of Na in fielded CdTe modules to sustain long-term high-power output.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Decoupling Thin Film CdTe Growth from Packaging: Toward Record Specific Power in Low Cost Polycrystalline PV

There are critical material and scientific barriers to producing high efficiency, flexible, lightweight solar cells that maximize specific power in a cost-effective manner. III-V solar cells have produced the highest specific power of any photovoltaic technology due to their extremely high efficiency, however, they are also among the most expensive to produce. This work explores a novel lift-off approach with thin-film solar cells, particularly CdTe, to achieve high specific power at low costs. Thin-film devices can be delaminated from their heavy, glass growth substrates post-growth by exploiting a mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion between the two. This allows thin-film PV to be decoupled from high temperature growth requirements and repackaged using lightweight materials. In this work we evaluate different materials and approaches for achieving large area delamination of CdTe films from their glass superstrates. It is found that epoxy bonded to a rigid handle provides robust and reproducible delamination at the TCO/CdS interface upon submersion in liquid nitrogen. Following delamination, a transparent front contact is re-deposited and selectively etched to expose the back contact to produce a functioning device. Effects of delamination and contributions to device functionality from CdCl 2 and CdS layers are discussed. Reproducible delamination of high efficiency, thin-film solar cells over large areas will enable work to further improve device efficiency through passivation and reconstruction of the previously buried interface between the transparent contact and CdS.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Alloy Loss Mitigation Through Use of Barrier Layers During CdCl2Processing of Cd0.60Zn0.4Te and Cd0.87Mg0.13Te

The main obstacle to realizing the use of polycrystalline wide bandgap alloys of CdTe with Mg and Zn in PV is the CdCl 2 processing step. This step, essential to CdTe device performance, removes Zn and Mg from the alloy films while producing less of the benefits seen from the process with CdTe. In this study, the use of Al 2 O 3 CdS, and MgZnO films at the free surface of the alloys to prevent loss of Mg or Zn is investigated. It is found that Al 2 O 3 is the most effective at reducing loss of Mg and Zn, followed by CdS and then MgZnO. A new method of evaluating the transition to CdTe from the as deposited alloy is proposed to account for differences in transition behaviors.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Comparative operando XPS studies of quasi-Fermi level splitting and open-circuit voltage in CZTSe/CdS and CIGS/CdS junctions and device structures

This contribution describes operando x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (opXPS) studies of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) and Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) absorber layers and device structures. X-ray-excited valence-band and core-level spectra were acquired on bare absorber surfaces and after CdS and ZnO:Al depositions in standard absorber/CdS/ZnO/ZnO:Al device stacks. OpXPS data sets were acquired at various x-ray fluxes, with and without white-light illumination. From these measurements, quasi-Fermi level splitting (ΔE F ) values in the absorber/CdS junctions were measured directly as a function of excitation conditions. For both CIGS and CZTSe, results show that ..delta..EF proportional to the full open-circuit voltage (V OC ) of the completed devices is present after the deposition of the CdS layer - i.e., E F = qV OC - demonstrating that the so-called V OC deficit in CZTSe solar cells is also present at this stage of processing. The authors find that photoexcitation due to x-rays or stray visible light during XPS or similar measurements can produce measurable photovoltages in materials, absorber/CdS junctions, and finished devices. In situ current density versus voltage measurements on a typical CIGS device reveal that x-ray-induced photoexcitation associated with typical XPS measurement conditions is equivalent to ~3 x 10 -3 suns, which in this study produced V OC = 440 mV. These findings demonstrate that accounting for photoexcitation conditions during XPS or similar measurements can improve band-offset determinations and produce more reliable values for the junction built-in voltage. The implications of the study findings on the CZTSe V OC deficit and device performance are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Optical properties of alloys based on II-S and II-Te chalcogenides

Spectroscopic studies of binary and multicomponent semiconductors of the CdS-CdTe, CdS-ZnTe, and ZnS-CdTe systems are performed. They result in confirmation of the formation of substitutional alloys in these systems (in addition to the results of X-ray diffractometry studies), and the chemical composition of the surface as well as the most important characteristic of semiconductors, theelectron work function, the frequencies of strongest luminescence (impurity and band-to band), the emission maxima, and the possibilities of predicting luminescence properties are determined. Recommendations concerning the use of fabricated materials of definite composition as phosphors are given.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Surface-barrier photoconverters with graded-gap layers in the space-charge region

A novel possibility of controlling the parameters of p-Cu{sub 1.8}S-n-II-VI surface-barrier structures by embedding a thin graded-gap layer into a photoconverter space-charge region (SCR) is implemented. The feature of quasi-electric fields built in the SCR, i.e., the fact that an increase in the drift field for minority carriers can be accompanied by a decrease in the potential barrier for majority carriers, is considered. The proper choice of the parameters of the Cd{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}S graded-gap layer embedded in the Cu{sub 1.8}S-ZnS structure SCR made it possible to double the quantum efficiency in the ultraviolet spectral region. For Cu{sub 1.8}S-CdS photoconverters with a (CdS){sub x}(ZnSe){sub 1−x} intermediate layer, dark diode currents are decreased by three orders of magnitude while retaining a high quantum efficiency.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Quantitative analysis of optical and recombination losses in Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin-film solar cells

Optical and recombination losses in a Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} thin-film solar cell with a band gap of 1.36–1.38 eV are theoretically analyzed. The optical transmittance of the ZnO and CdS layers through which the radiation penetrates into the absorbing layer is determined. Using optical constants, the optical loss caused by reflection at the interfaces (7.5%) and absorption in the ZnO and CdS layers (10.2%) are found. To calculate the recombination loss, the spectral distribution of the quantum efficiency of CdS/CuIn{sub 1–x}Ga{sub x}Se{sub 2} is investigated. It is demonstrated that, taking the drift and diffusion components of recombination at the front and rear surfaces of the absorber into account, the quantum efficiency spectra of the investigated solar cell can be analytically described in detail. The real parameters of the solar cell are determined by comparing the calculated results and experimental data. In addition, the losses caused by the recombination of photogenerated carriers at the front and rear surfaces of the absorbing layer (1.8% and <0.1%, respectively), at its neutral part (7.6%), and in the space-charge region of the p–n heterojunction (1.0%) are determined. A correction to the parameters of Cu(In,Ga)Se{sub 2} is proposed, which enhances the charge-accumulation efficiency.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗