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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Materials Science and Engineering

Theses/Dissertations

2016

Solar energy

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Searching To Distinguish Defects And The Presence Of Negative Capacitance, Thaddeus Cox May 2016

Searching To Distinguish Defects And The Presence Of Negative Capacitance, Thaddeus Cox

Senior Theses

In the search for solar cells with lower manufacturing costs, thin film technology was developed. These thin films are only micrometers thick and are grown at relatively low temperatures, resulting in films with imperfections known as defects. Defects can cause thin film solar cells to have lower efficiencies than their single crystalline counterparts. In order to create more efficient thin film solar cells the physical mechanisms behind defects need to be investigated by sensitive techniques. Capacitance measurements of solar cells detect minute changes in charge in the material. For that reason, capacitance is used to electrically characterize the solar cell. …


Doped Tio2 Nanowires For Applications In Dye Sensitized Solar Cells And Sacrifical Hydrogen Production, Qasem Alsharari Apr 2016

Doped Tio2 Nanowires For Applications In Dye Sensitized Solar Cells And Sacrifical Hydrogen Production, Qasem Alsharari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores the synthesis of metal oxide 1-D nanowires using a sol-gel method in supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2), as an environmental friendly enabling solvent. Porous nanowires were synthesized and their performance was tested in dye sensitized solar cell and sacrifical hydrogen production. Titanium isopropoxide (TIP) was used as a precursor for titania synthesis while copper, bismuth and indium were examined as dopants, respectively. The sol-gel reactions were catalyzed by acetic acid in CO2 at a temperature of 60 °C and pressure of 5000 psi. It was observed that acetic acid/monomer ratio > 4 produced nanowires while a …