Session Index

The development of renewable energy is a trend in the world. And developing thin-film solar cells, which utilize photovoltaic effect to convert light energy into electrical energy, will play a key role in the global trend. Chalcogenide based thin-film photovoltaics such as CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) have achieved remarkable over 20% power conversion efficiency (PCE). These thin-film materials have wide spectral response ranges and high absorption coefficients, so they are sensitive to weak light. However, the toxicity of cadmium (Cd), and the scarcity of indium (In) and tellurium (Te) may restrict the production capacity for a growing worldwide power consumption (~terawatt). Therefore, the development of low-cost, earth-abundant thin-film solar cells have attracted a lot of attention. the new generation metal chalcogenides: Cu2ZnSn(Se,S)4 (CZTSSe) and Cu2BaSn(S,Se)4 (CBTS) will be two of the most potential alternative photovoltaic energy materials due to its abundant, non-toxic elements and providing desirable optoelectronic properties, similar to CIGSSe. In this talk, I will share some of our recent progresses on CZTSSe and CBTS:

(1) Interface engineering of CdS/CZTS(Se) is an important aspect of improving the performance of buffer/absorber heterojunction combination. It has been demonstrated that the crossover phenomenon due to the interface recombination can be drastically eliminated by interface modification. Here, we present a comprehensive study on the effects of soft-baking (SB) temperature on the junction properties and the corresponding optoelectronic and interface-structural properties;

(2) we used vacuum process to synthesis the CBTSSe absorber and performed Raman, X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) measurements as the tools to understand the quality and the information of phase identification. Based on the results, the two-step prepared CBTSSe absorbers with tunable bandgap has been successfully demonstrated.

 

In this work, perovskite solar cells using isobutyl alcohol (IBA)-doped PEDOT:PSS hole transportation layer (HTL) were fabricated. Using IBA doping could improve the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS HTL and match the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level between PEDOT:PSS and perovskite, which could improve the performance of perovskite solar cells.

 

In this study, the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) solutions with different absorbance peaks are mixed with TiO2 powder to prepare photoanode using doctor blade method. The optimal photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs) for Au-TiO2 photoanode with absorbance peak of 0.2 a.u. is 4.69 %.

 

Schottky photodetector based on Nickel (Ni/n-Si) is characterized for low cost and simple process. We found that it could generate current by internal-light excitation mechanism and rapid photocurrent when the hot carriers cross the Schottky barrier at the same time. Our research investigated the relationship between the two effect completely.

 

The different ZnO synthesis will influence the device performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). Regarding the previous work, ZnO is a critical thing to determine the behavior of carrier-transporting in the active layer. Thus, this paper provides a suitable method of ZnO synthesis to enhance the performance in PSCs.