Numerical Investigation of Graphene as a Back Surface Field Layer on the Performance of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell.

This paper numerically explores the possibility of ultrathin layering and high efficiency of graphene as a back surface field (BSF) based on a CdTe solar cell by Personal computer one-dimensional (PC1D) simulation. CdTe solar cells have been characterized and studied by varying the carrier lifetime, doping concentration, thickness, and bandgap of the graphene layer. With simulation results, the highest short-circuit current (I = 2.

Development of a Solar Cell Back Sheet with Excellent UV Durability and Thermal Conductivity.

The back sheet is one of the most important materials in photovoltaic (PV) modules. It plays an important role in protecting the solar cell from the environment by preventing moisture penetration. In the back sheet, the outermost layer is composed of a polyester (PET) film to protect the PV module from moisture, and the opposite layer is composed of a TiO2 + PE material.

Properties of CuInS₂ Nano-Particles on TiO₂ by Spray Pyrolysis for CuInS₂/TiO₂ Composite Solar Cell.

In this letter, for the absorption layer of a CuInS₂/TiO₂ composite solar cell, I–III–VI2 chalcopyrite semiconductor CuInS₂ nano-particles were deposited by using spray pyrolysis method on TiO2 porous film. Their material characteristics including structural and optical properties of CuInS₂ nano-particles on TiO₂ nanorods were analyzed as a function of its composition ratios of Cu:In:S. Crystalline structure, surface morphology and crystalline size were also investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), and High-Resolution TEM (HRTEM), respectively.

Optimization of BBr₃-Based Co-Diffusion Processes for Bifacial N-Type Solar Cells.

We report on the co-diffused bifacial N-type solar cells based on N-type Si wafers using the process of spin on doping (SOD, phosphorous source) and boron tribromide (BBr₃) diffusion by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD). For bifacial co-diffusion, a phosphorous layer was deposited by SOD on the rear side of N-type Si wafer and a BBr₃ as boron dopant source deposited by APCVD. Co-diffusion process was controlled by changing the flowrate of carrier N₂ gas and drive-in temperatures.

Sol-Gel Deposited Double Layer TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ Anti-Reflection Coating for Silicon Solar Cell.

In this work, the deposition of double layer ARC on p-type Si solar cells was carried out by simple spin coating using sol-gel derived Al2O3 and TiO2 precursors for the fabrication of crystalline Si solar cells. The first ARC layer was created by freshly prepared sol-gel derived Al2O3 precursor using spin coating technique and then second ARC layer of TiO2 was deposited with sol-gel derived TiO2 precursor, which was finally annealed at 400 °C. The double layer Al2O3/TiO2 ARC on Si wafer exhibited the low average reflectance of 4.

Hydrodechlorination of Silicon Tetrachloride to Trichlorosilane Over Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Catalysts: Effect of Pretreatment of Oxygen and Hydrochloric Acid.

This paper reports on the catalytic reaction for the conversion of silicon tetrachloride (STC) to trichlorosilane (TCS) over pretreated ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) catalysts by oxygen (denoted as OMC-O2) and hydrochloric acid (denoted as OMC-HCl) at 300 degrees C under N2 atmosphere. The OMC-O2 shows significantly improved the surface area (1341.2 m2/g) and pore volume (1.

Characterization of Boron Diffusion Phenomena According to the Specific Resistivity of N-Type Si Wafer.

This paper is directed to characterize the boron diffusion process according to the specific resistivity of the Si wafer. N-type Si wafers were used with the specific resistivity of 0.5-3.

Nanoprecursor-Mediated Synthesis of Mg²⁺-Doped TiO₂ Nanoparticles and Their Application for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

Surface-doping anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles with Mg²⁺ were prepared via a novel synthetic method, and used as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image results indicate that the Mg²⁺ doping has no effect on the crystal phase and morphology of anatase TiO₂. The shift in XRD peaks to higher angles, the absorption shift in UV-vis diffuse reflection spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results indicate the incorporation of Mg²⁺-ions into the TiO₂ lattice.

Steam Treated Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Nanomaterials for Catalytic Conversion of Silicon Tetrachloride to Trichlorosilane.

The steam-pretreatment on ordered-mesoporous carbon (OMC) catalysts was conducted to improve the catalytic properties for silicon tetrachloride (STC) to trichlorosilane (TCS) conversion. The surface area, pore size and pore volume of OMC were significantly changed as a function of pretreatment temperature. The steam-pretreated OMC at 500 degrees C exhibited the high surface area (-1476.

Effect of TiO2 Particle Size on the Performance of Flexible Dye Sensitized Solar Cells.

The size TiO2 nanoparticles was controlled by changing the concentration of titanium tetraisopropanolate (TTIP) and utilized as light scattering particles in the efficient flexible photoelectrodes for flexible dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The flexible photoelectrodes were prepared by TiO2 nanoparticles (-25 nm) paste with different concentrations of ethanolic TTIP solution. The addition of TTIP produced the bigger TiO2 nanoparticles, which significantly enhanced the dye absorption of flexible TiO2 photoelectrode.

Novel preparation of anatase TiO2@reduced graphene oxide hybrids for high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells.

An effective method was developed to prepare hybrid materials of TiO2 nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets for application in solar cells. The morphology, size, and crystal phase of the TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2@reduced graphene oxide (TiO2@RGO) hybrids were investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. A possible growth mechanism of TiO2@RGO hybrids is proposed based on observations of the TiO2 nanoparticles obtained from the hydrolysis process under different conditions.

High efficiency solid state dye sensitized solar cells with graphene-polyethylene oxide composite electrolytes.

Novel and highly effective composite electrolytes were prepared by combining the two dimensional graphene (Gra) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) for the solid electrolyte of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Gra sheets were uniformly coated by the polymer layer through the ester carboxylate bonding between oxygenated species on Gra sheets and PEO. The Gra-PEO composite electrolyte showed the large scale generation of iodide ions in a redox couple.

Smart copper oxide nanocrystals: synthesis, characterization, electrochemical and potent antibacterial activity.

We report herein the synthesis and characterization of novel CuO nanocrystals and their electrochemical and potent antibacterial activity. The utilized CuO nanocrystals were prepared by wet chemical method using copper acetate and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as precursors. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized CuO nanocrystals having size ~6 nm were determined by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultra violet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy.

N,N'-Dimethyl-N,N'-bis-(pyridin-2-yl)methane-diamine.

The title compound, C(13)H(16)N(4), consists of two pyridine rings which are linked by an N,N'-dimethyl-methane-amine chain. The pyridine rings adopt a twist conformation and the dihedral angle between them is 60.85 (5)°.

Synthesis and characterization of high-purity silica nanosphere from rice husk.

The work reports the synthesis, characterization, and the properties of high-purity silica nanospheres from low-cost rice husk. Primarily, the rice husk was washed with distilled water (DW) and subjected to acid leaching to remove the impurities. The treated rice husk was annealed at different temperatures (620 and 900 degrees C) for varied time periods to achive the desirable silica nanospheres.

Electrical and structural characterization of plasma polymerized polyaniline/TiO2 heterostructure diode: a comparative study of single and bilayer TiO2 thin film electrode.

A heterostructure was fabricated using p-type plasma polymerized polyaniline (PANI) and n-type (single and bilayer) titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film on FTO glass. The deposition of single and bilayer TiO2 thin film on FTO substrate was achieved through doctor blade followed by dip coating technique before subjected to plasma enhanced polymerization. To fabricate p-n heterostructure, a plasma polymerization of aniline was conducted using RF plasma at 13.

Diode behavior of electrophoretically deposited polyaniline on TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film electrode.

An inorganic/organic hetrostructure diode was constructed by the electrophoretic deposition of the p-type polyaniline (PANI) on an n-type titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticulate thin film. The bonding and internalization of PANI to TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film were confirmed by the morphological, structural and optical studies of electrophoretically deposited PANI/TIO2 nanoparticulate thin film. The increased size of TiO2 nanoparticles indicated the well penetration of PANI molecules into the pores of mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticulate thin film.

Electrocatalytic behavior of calcium doped LaFeO3 as cathode material for solid oxide fuel cell.

La(1-x)Ca(x)FeO3 (X = 0.0, 0.2, 0.

Morphological and electrochemical properties of crystalline praseodymium oxide nanorods.

Highly crystalline Pr6O11 nanorods were prepared by a simple precipitation method of triethylamine complex at 500°C. Synthesized Pr6O11 nanorods were uniformly grown with the diameter of 12-15 nm and the length of 100-150 nm without any impurities of unstable PrO2 phase. The Pr6O11 nanorod electrodes attained a high electrical conductivity of 0.

Thermally grown ZnO nanosheets for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells.

High efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using ZnO nanosheet electrodes. ZnO nanosheets were synthesized on top of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass using Zn(OAc)2 as a precursor in the gold catalyzed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method at a temperature of 800-900 degrees C. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy.

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite electrolyte for solid-state dye sensitized solar cells.

A novel carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite electrolyte was successfully synthesized by the thermal polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with CNTs for solid-state dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The prepared CNTs-PMMA composite electrolytes were characterized by Fourior transformed-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ionic conductivity. A strong bonding was observed between CNT and PMMA through ester bonding in the CNT-PMMA composite, resulting in the lowering of crystallinity and increasing the ionic conductivity of composite electrolyte.

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light over Cr doped strontium titanate (SrTiO3) nanoparticles.

Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) and chromium doped SrTiO3 (Cr/SrTiO3) were prepared by modified sol-gel method with the citric acid as a chelating agent in the ethylene glycol solution for the effective photodegradation of methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation. The synthesized doped and un-doped SrTiO3 nanoparticles were structurally characterized and their photoresponse performances for the efficient degradation of methylene blue dye have been demonstrated. After introducing the Cr on SrTiO3, UV-Vis absorption was appeared the red-shift at 566 nm from 392 nm as compare with bare SrTiO3.

Synthesis of single-crystalline ZnO nanowires and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with a solid polyethylene glycol (PEG) redox electrolyte.

We demonstrate for the first time ZnO nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with a solid-state poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) redox electrolyte. From the current-voltage characteristics of this solid PEG electrolyte-based ZnO nanowire DSSCs, the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density, and fill factor were determined to be approximately 0.58 V, approximately 1.

Synthesis and characterization of ultrahigh crystalline TiO2 nanotubes.

Ultrahigh crystalline TiO2 nanotubes were synthesized by hydrogen peroxide treatment of very low crystalline titania nanotubes (TiNT-as prepared), which were prepared with synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles by hydrothermal methods in an aqueous NaOH solution. Thus, prepared ultrahigh crystalline TiO2 nanotubes (TiNT-H2O2) showed comparable crystallinity with high crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles. The details of nanotubular structures were elucidated by high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis in transmission electron microscopy (TEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and BET surface area.