• Applied Chemistry
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.105-108
• /
• 2011

Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) have attracted considerable attention due to their low cost, light-weight and flexible characteristics. Small molecules have advantages of well-defined structure and easy synthesis. In this work, new tetrazine, DPP, and furan-based oligomers for organic solar cell were synthesized by Suzuki coupling reaction. The structures were confirmed by NMR and optical and electronic properties were investigated by UV-vis absorption.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.2037-2042
• /
• 2013

A TCO-less palladium (Pd) catalytic layer on the glass substrate was assessed as the counter electrode (CE) in a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) to confirm the stability of Pd with the $I^-/I_3{^-}$electrolyte on the DSSC performance. A 90nm-thick Pd film was deposited by a thermal evaporator. Finally, DSSC devices of $0.45cm^2$ with glass/FTO/blocking layer/$TiO_2$/dye/electrolyte(10 mM LiI + 1 mM $I_2$ + 0.1 M $LiClO_4$ in acetonitrile solution)/Pd/glass structure was prepared. We investigated the microstructure and photovoltaic property at 1 and 12 hours after the sample preparation. The optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), cyclic voltammetry measurement (C-V), and current voltage (I-V) were employed to measure the microstructure and photovoltaic property evolution. Microstructure analysis showed that the corrosion by reaction between the Pd layer and the electrolyte occurred as time went by, which led the decrease of the catalytic activity and the efficiency. I-V result revealed that the energy conversion efficiency after 1 and 12 hours was 0.34% and 0.15%, respectively. Our results implied that we might employ the other non-$I^-/I_3{^-}$electrolyte or the other catalytic metal layers to guarantee the long term stability of the DSSC devices.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2012

To recently, light of the sun and fuel cell etc. which is new and renewable energy is developed with the direct current energy source mostly. And it is necessary that the utilization plan which does supply it properly. In this case, the direct current illumination system can be a typical alternative of it. The system similar to the development system is composed of type which connects to each other the photovoltaic pannel, the charge kit, and the battery bank. I develop all-in-one system which the power supply system and photovoltaic pannel which can charge and use efficiently. Additionally, I exploit the DC lamp module of three wave which can separate the electronic ballasts from the module. Developed the DC Lamp module of all-in-one which can turn on or can turn off, by operation of ON/OFF button. It can be used semipermanently by changing just only electronic ballasts.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2012.05a
• /
• pp.65-65
• /
• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.129-133
• /
• 2020

It is very important to optimize the reflectance of incident light in solar modules for improving output power and reducing loss of cell-to-module (CTM). It is assumed that a higher reflectance backsheet may improve optical efficiency. However how much output power is related to optical properties by reflectance property of backsheets have not been revealed clearly yet. A total of 3 types of industrial backsheets with 3 type of industrial encapsulants (EVA or POE) were analyzed as fabricated mini modules used shingled cells. According to the type of backsheets, the difference between the highest and lowest average reflectance in the range of 400 nm to 1200 nm was found to be 13.08% by UV-visible spectroscopy. Also, when using the same encapsulant, the maximum gap value of the output power increase was measured by about 3.755 mW% (166.02 mW). The correlation between reflectance and output power was experimentally found by measuring the output property of the fabricated shingled mini modules.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2009.11a
• /
• pp.278-278
• /
• 2009

A photovoltaic device consisting of arrays of radial p-n junction wires enables a decoupling of the requirements for light absorption and carrier extraction into orthogonal spatial directions. Each individual p-n junction wire in the cell is long in the direction of incident light, allowing for effective light absorption, but thin in orthogonal direction, allowing for effective carrier collection. To fabricate radial p-n junction solar cells, p or n-type vertical Si wire cores need to be produced. The majority of Si wires are produced by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. But contamination of the Si wires by metallic impurities such as Au, which is used for metal catalyst in the VLS technique, results in reduction of conversion efficiency of solar cells. To overcome impurity issue, top-down methods like noble metal catalytic etching is an excellent candidate. We used noble metal catalytic etching methods to make Si wire arrays. The used noble metal is two; Au and Pt. The method is noble metal deposition on photolithographycally defined Si surface by sputtering and then etching in various BOE and $H_2O_2$ solutions. The Si substrates were p-type ($10{\sim}20ohm{\cdot}cm$). The areas that noble metal was not deposited due to photo resist covering were not etched in noble metal catalytic etching. The Si wires of several tens of ${\mu}m$ in height were formed in uncovered areas by photo resist. The side surface of Si wires was very rough. When the distance of Si wires is longer than diameter of that Si nanowires are formed between Si wires. Theses Si nanowires can be removed by immersing the specimen in KOH solution. The optimum noble metal thickness exists for Si wires fabrication. The thicker or the thinner noble metal than the optimum thickness could not show well defined Si wire arrays. The solution composition observed in the highest etching rate was BOE(16.3ml)/$H_2O_2$(0.44M) in Au assisted chemical etching method. The morphology difference was compared between Au and Pt metal assisted chemical etching. The efficiencies of radial p-n junction solar Cells made of the Si wire arrays were also measured.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2011.05a
• /
• pp.8.1-8.1
• /
• 2011

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) materials have been widely used as an electron collector in DSSC. This is required to have an extremely high porosity and surface area such that the dye can be sufficiently adsorbed and be electronically interconnected, resulting in the generation of a high photocurrent within cells. In particular, their geometrical structures and crystalline phase have been extensively investigated as important issues in improving its photovoltaic efficiency. In this study, we present a new strategy to fabricate a photoelectrode having a periodic structured $TiO_2$ film templated from 1D or 3D polystyrene (PS) microspheres array. Monodisperse PS spheres of various radiuses were used for colloidal array on FTO glasses and two types of photoelectrode structures with different $TiO_2$ materials were investigated respectively. One is the igloo-shaped electrode prepared by $TiO_2$ deposition by RF-sputtering onto 2D microsphere-templated substrates. At the interface between the film and substrate, there are voids formed by the decomposition of PS microspheres during the calcination step. These holes might be expected to play the predominant roles as scattering spherical voids to promote a light harvesting effect, a spacious structure for electrolytes with higher viscosity and effective paths for electron transfer. Additionally the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ phase prepared by the RF-sputtering method was previously reported to improve the electron drift mobility within $TiO_2$ electrodes. This yields solar cells with a cell efficiency of 2.45% or more at AM 1.5 illumination, which is a very remarkable result, considering its $TiO_2$ electrode thickness (<2 ${\mu}m$). This study can be expanded to obtain higher cell efficiency by higher dye loading through the increase of surface area or multi-layered stacking. The other is the inverse opal photonic crystal electrode prepared by titania particles infusion within 3D colloidal arrays. To obtain the enlargement of ordered area and high quality of crystallinity, the synthesis of titania particles coated with a organic thin layer were applied instead of sol-gel process using the $TiO_2$ precursors. They were dispersed so well in most solvents without aggregates and infused successfully within colloidal array structures. This ordered mesoporous structure provides the large surface area leading to the enough adsorption of dye molecules and have an light harvesting effect due to the photonic band gap properties (back-and-forth reflection effects within structures). A major advantage of this colloidal array template method is that the pore size and its distribution within $TiO_2$ photoelectrodes are determined by those of latex beads, which can be controlled easily. These materials may have promising potentials for future applications of membrane, sensor and so on as well as solar cells.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.619-625
• /
• 1995

Polycrystalline CdTe thin film has been studied for photovoltaic application due to the 1.45 eV band gap energy ideal for solar energy conversion and high absorption coefficient. The formation of low resistance contact to p-CdTe is difficult because of large work function(>5.5eV). Common methods for ohmic contact to p-CdTe are to form a p+ region under the contact by in-diffusion of contact material to reduce the barrier height and modify a p-CdTe surface layer using chemical treatment. In this study, the surface chemical treatment of p CdTe was carried out by H$\_$3/PO$\_$4/+HNO$\_$3/ or K$\_$2/Cr$\_$2/O$\_$7/+H$\_$2/SO$\_$4/ solution to provide a Te-rich surface. And various thin film contact materials such as Cu, Au, and Cu/Au were deposited by E-beam evaporation to form ohmic contact to p-CdTe. After the metallization, post annealing was performed by oven heat treatment at 150.deg. C or by RTA(Rapid Thermal Annealing) at 250-350.deg. C. Surface chemical treatments of p-CdTe thin film improved metal/p-CdTe interface properties and post heat treatment resulted in low contact resistivity to p-CdTe.Of the various contact metal, Cu/Au and Cu show low contact resistance after oven and RTA post-heat treatments, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.11
• /
• pp.57-68
• /
• 2013

The market for distributed power generation based on renewable energy is increasing, particularly for standalone mini-grid applications in developing countries with limited energy resources. Stand-alone power systems (SAPS) are of special interest combined with renewable energy design in areas not connected to the electric grid. Traditionally, such systems have been powered by diesel engine generator sets (DEGS), but also hybrid systems with photovoltaic and/or wind energy conversion systems (WECS) are becoming quite common nowadays. Hybrid energy systems can now be used to generate energy consumed in remote areas and stand-alone microgrids. This paper describes the design, simulation and feasibility study of a hybrid energy system for a stand-alone power system. A simulated model is developed to investigate the design and performance of stand-alone hydrogen renewable energy systems. The analysis presented here is based on transient system simulation program (TRNSYS) with realistic ventilation load of a large store. Design of a hybrid energy system is site specific and depends on the resources available and the load demand.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2012.03a
• /
• pp.427-432
• /
• 2012

This paper proposes efficient operation method of PV system consisted of multi-central which is suitable for large scale system. The multi-central system used switch at a DC-link and applied proposed algorithm can improve the efficiency and the reliability on the existing system. This algorithm, with advantage of Multi-Central system can minimize the effect of different characteristic of each PV array due to a shadow or damaged PV cell. Each system is analysed and maximum power point tracking control, DC-link voltage control and output current control is used commonly. The validity is verified after comparing of the existing system and proposed system by simulation.