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Full-Text Articles in Semiconductor and Optical Materials

Perovskite Thin Films Annealed In Supercritical Fluids For Efficient Solar Cells, Gilbert Annohene Jan 2021

Perovskite Thin Films Annealed In Supercritical Fluids For Efficient Solar Cells, Gilbert Annohene

Theses and Dissertations

In the field of photovoltaics, scientists and researchers are working fervently to produce a combination of efficient, stable, low cost and scalable devices. Methylammonium lead trihalide perovskite has attracted intense interest due to its high photovoltaic performance, low cost, and ease of manufacture. Their high absorption coefficient, tunable bandgap, low-temperature processing, and abundant elemental constituent provide innumerable advantages over other thin film absorber materials. Since the perovskite film is the most important in the device, morphology, crystallization, compositional and interface engineering have been explored to boost its performance and stability. High temperatures necessary for crystallization of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite films …


Characterization Of Contact Resistance Properties Of Different Tlm Structure Designs, Nicole A. Karam Pannaci Jan 2020

Characterization Of Contact Resistance Properties Of Different Tlm Structure Designs, Nicole A. Karam Pannaci

Digital Repository: Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence

No abstract provided.


Modeling Recombination In Solar Cells, Paul Chery Jun 2018

Modeling Recombination In Solar Cells, Paul Chery

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

Solar cells are a competitive alternative to nonrenewable energy sources such as fossil fuels. However, the efficiency of these devices is limited by photogenerated carrier recombination. We use a finite difference numerical model to study recombination phenomena in the absorber layer of solar cells including alternate recombination models and the effects of spatial distribution of recombination centers. We compare the effect of using the constant lifetime approximation for recombination to the full Shockley-Read-Hall expression in Silicon solar cells and find that the constant lifetime approximation holds for high defect densities but not for high photon flux densities. Finally, we simulate …


Modeling And Simulation Of Iii-Nitride-Based Solar Cells Using Nextnano®, Malak Refaei Dec 2017

Modeling And Simulation Of Iii-Nitride-Based Solar Cells Using Nextnano®, Malak Refaei

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nextnano³ software is a well-known package for simulating semiconductor band-structures at the nanoscale and predicting the general electronic structure. In this work, it is further demonstrated as a viable tool for the simulation of III-nitride solar cells. In order to prove this feasibility, the generally accepted solar cell simulation package, PC1D, was chosen for comparison. To critique the results from both PC1D and Nextnano3, the fundamental drift-diffusion equations were used to calculate the performance of a simple p-n homojunction solar cell device analytically. Silicon was picked as the material for this comparison between the outputs of the two simulators as …


Cu2znsn(S1-Xsex)4 Solar Cell Fabrication And Characterization, Weiwei Sun Oct 2017

Cu2znsn(S1-Xsex)4 Solar Cell Fabrication And Characterization, Weiwei Sun

Theses and Dissertations

Cu2ZnSn(S1-xSex)4 (CZTSSe) is a kesterite material with similar properties to CuInxGa1-xS2 (CIGS) but less expensive element contained. A significant progress has been made in terms of CZTSSe in solar cell applications. Despite its energy conversion efficiency of 12.6% has been achieved by IBM using solution processes, further research and understanding of the materials is still needed in order to improve the solar cell performance of CZTSSe. In this study, we use a facile chemical route to fabricating CZTSSe thin-film solar cells by spin-coating followed by selenization process. An environmentally friendly non-toxic solution of highly soluble, inexpensive, and commercially available precursors …


Large Scale Monolithic Solar Panel Simulation - A Study On Partial Shading Degradation, Suhas V. Baddela, Xingshu Sun, Muhammad A. Alam Aug 2016

Large Scale Monolithic Solar Panel Simulation - A Study On Partial Shading Degradation, Suhas V. Baddela, Xingshu Sun, Muhammad A. Alam

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Shadow-induced degradation is a major concern for both power output and long-term reliability in solar cells. Apart from the obvious fact that shading reduces the amount of solar irradiance available to solar panels, it may lead to formation of hot spots, where solar cells are forced to reverse breakdown with localized heating, and potentially, permanent damage. To get a better understanding of shadow-induced degradation, we develop an electro-thermal coupled simulator that can self-consistently solve the electrical and thermal distributions of solar panel under arbitrary shading conditions. The simulation framework consists of two part: a) compact models that can describe the …


Increasing Solar Energy Conversion Efficiency In Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photovoltaic Devices With Plasmonic Perfect Meta – Absorbers, Jephias Gwamuri Jan 2016

Increasing Solar Energy Conversion Efficiency In Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photovoltaic Devices With Plasmonic Perfect Meta – Absorbers, Jephias Gwamuri

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Solar photovoltaic (PV) devices are an established, technically-viable and sustainable solution to society’s energy needs, however, in order to reach mass deployment at the terawatt scale, further decreases in the levelized cost of electricity from solar are needed. This can be accomplished with thin-film PV technologies by increasing the conversion efficiency using sophisticated light management methods. This ensures absorption of the entire solar spectrum, while reducing semiconductor absorber layer thicknesses, which reduces deposition time, material use, embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and economic costs. Recent advances in optics, particularly in plasmonics and nanophotonics provide new theoretical methods to improve …


Application Of Quantum Dots Onto Glass Wafers As A Feasibility Test For The Spectral Down Conversion Of Uv Light For Solar Cells, Anthony Fong Jun 2013

Application Of Quantum Dots Onto Glass Wafers As A Feasibility Test For The Spectral Down Conversion Of Uv Light For Solar Cells, Anthony Fong

Materials Engineering

Quantum dots have the ability to convert high energy photons into multiple lower energy photons. Down conversion of such high energy photons from sources such as UV light can be beneficial for applications on solar cells which waste much of the energy in the form of thermalization. To test this theory, a solar cell was hooked up to an Amprobe Solar Analyzer and tests were run to compare power output with and without the presence of quantum dots. Additionally, quantum dots were spin coated onto a glass wafer to determine its adhesion ability. Spectrometer readings were taken of the wafer …


Improving Solar Cell Performance Using Cdse/Zns Core/Shell Quantum Dots In A Spectral Conversion System, Buddy Bump Jun 2012

Improving Solar Cell Performance Using Cdse/Zns Core/Shell Quantum Dots In A Spectral Conversion System, Buddy Bump

Materials Engineering

Solar cells have been found to absorb light more efficiently and effectively when the energy of incoming photons matches the electronic band gap of the solar cell. Spectral conversion of light from UV to lower energy wavelengths can improve solar cell efficiency an estimated 14.5%. Cadmium Selenium/Zinc Sulfide Core/Shell quantum dots have been successfully embedded in PDMS silicone elastomer. Using a Keithley 2400 Electrometer with Labview software, voltage and current characteristics have been recorded in steps of 10 mV with a wait time of 250 ms on a commercially available solar cell using an artificial solar spectrum created by a …