• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.298-303
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• 2013

In this study, the W-interconnected dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) modules composed of a number of rectangular cells connected in series were investigated, where neighboring cells are processed in reverse. The DSSC modules, a module of dimension about 200 mm ${\times}$ 200 mm, were fabricated with different working electrode width ranging from 5 mm to 21 mm. The short-circuit current of the module increased as the working electrode width increased. Whereas, the decrease in the working electrode width resulted in the increase of the conversion energy efficiency, fill factor, and open-circuit voltage, which is explained by the fact that the possibility that electrons are recombined along their path on the transparent conductive oxide substrate decreases. The module with the conversion energy efficiency of 3.59% was obtained with the working electrode width of 5 mm.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1485_1486
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• 2009

Transparent conductive metal oxide films of $In_{2-x}Sn_xO_3$ (ITiO) and $In_{2-x}Sn_xO_3$ (ITO) were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at relatively low substrate temperature (~$300^{\circ}C$) and at high rate (~10nm/min). Electrical and optical properties of the films were investigated as well as film structure and morphology, as it is compared with the commercial F:$SnO_2$ (FTO) glass. Near infrared ray transmittance of ITiO is the highest for wavelengths over 1000nm, which can increase dye sensitized compared to ITiO and FTO. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were fabricated using the ITiO, ITO and FTO. Photoconversion efficiency ($\eta$) of DSC using ITiO is 5.5%, whereas 5.0% is obtained from DSC with ITO, both at 100mW/$cm^2$ light intensity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.453.1-453.1
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• 2014

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), which is commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), is a promising material of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) because of advantages such as high chemical stability, high resistance, high optical transparency (>80% at 550nm), and low electrical resistivity (${\sim}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$). Especially, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been actively studied since Gratzel's research group required FTO substrate as a charge collector. When FTO substrates are used in DSSCs, photo-injected electrons may experience recombination at interface between dye-bonded semiconductor oxides ($TiO_2$) on FTO substrate and the electrolyte. To solve these problems, one is that because recombination at FTO substrate cannot be neglected, thin $TiO_2$ layer on FTO substrate as a blocking layer was introduced. The other is to control the morphology of surface on FTO substrate to reduce a loss of electrons. The structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of morphology controlled-FTO thin films as TCO materials were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Hall Effect Measurement, and UV spectrophotometer. The performance of DSSCs fabricated with morphology controlled FTO substrates was performed using Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE). We will discuss these results in detail in Conference.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.424-424
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• 2008

Dye-sensitized Solar Cell (DSC) is a new type of solar cell by using photocatalytic properties of $TiO_2$. The electric potential distribution in DSCs has played a major role in the operation of such cells. Models based on a built-in electric field which sets the upper limit for the open circuit voltage(Voc) and/or the possibility of a Schottky barrier at the interface between the mesoporous wide band gap semiconductor and the transparent conducting substrate have been presented. $TiO_2$ thin films were deposited on the FTO substrate by Nd:YAG Pulsed Laser Deposition(PLD) at room temperature and post-deposition annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ in flowing $O_2$ atmosphere for 1 hour. The structural properties of $TiO_2$ thin films have investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and atomic force microscope(AFM). Thickness of $TiO_2$ thin films were controlled deference deposition time and measurement by scanning electron microscope(SEM). Then we manufactured a DSC unit cells and I-V and efficiency were tested using solar simulator.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.431-431
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• 2016

Typical Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS)-based solar cells have a buffer layer between CIGS absorber layer and transparent ZnO front electrode, which plays an important role in improving the cell performance. Among various buffer materials, chemical bath deposition (CBD)-ZnS is being steadily studied to alternative to conventional CdS and the efficiency of CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell shows the comparable values with that of CdS/CIGS solar cell. The intriguing thing is that reversible changes occur after exposure to illumination due to the metastable defect states in completed ZnS/CIGS solar cell, which induces an improvement of solar cell performance. Thus, it implies that the understanding of metastable defects in CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell is important issue. In this study, we fabricate the ITO/i-ZnO/CBD-ZnS/CIGS/Mo/SLG solar cells by controlling the NH4OH mole concentration (from 2 M to 3.5 M) of CBD-ZnS buffer layer and observe their conversion efficiency with and without light soaking for 1 hr. From the results, NH4OH mole concentration and light exposure can significantly affect the CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell performance. In order to investigate that which layer can contain metastable defect states to influence on solar cell performance, impedance spectroscopy and capacitance profiling technique with exposure to illumination have been applied to CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell. These techniques give a very useful information on the density of states within the bandgap of CIGS, free carriers density, and light-induced metastable effects. Here, we present the rearranged charge distribution after exposure to illumination and suggest the origin of the metastable defect states in CBD-ZnS/CIGS solar cell.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2016

Nanoporous-layer-covered TiO₂ nanotube arrays (Type II TNTs) were fabricated by two-step electrochemical anodization. For comparison, conventional TiO₂ nanotube arrays (Type I TNTs) were also prepared by one-step electrochemical anodization. Types I and II TNTs were detached by selective etching and then transferred successfully to a transparent F-doped SnO₂ (FTO) substrate by a sol-gel process. Both FTO/Types I and II TNTs allowed front side illumination to exhibit incident photon-to-current efficiencies (IPCEs) in the long wavelength region of 300 to 750 nm without the absorption of light by the iodine-containing electrolyte. The Type II TNT exhibited longer electron lifetime and faster charge transfer than the Type I TNT because of its relatively fewer defect states. These beneficial effects lead to a high overall energy conversion efficiency (5.32 %) of the resulting dye-sensitized solar cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.75.2-75.2
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• 2013

Atomic layer deposition (ALD), utilizing self-limiting surface reactions, could offer promising perspectives for future efficient energy conversion devices. The capabilities of ALD for surface/interface modification and construction of novel architectures with sub-nanometer precision and exceptional conformality over high aspect ratio make it more valuable than any other deposition methods in nanoscale science and technology. In the context, a variety of researches on fabrication of active materials for energy conversion applications by ALD are emerging. Among those materials, one-dimensional nanotubular titanium dioxide, providing not only high specific surface area but also efficient carrier transport pathway, is a class of the most intensively explored materials for energy conversion systems, such as photovoltaic cells and photo/electrochemical devices. The monodisperse, stoichiometric, anatase, TiO2 nanotubes with smooth surface morphology and controlled wall thickness were fabricated via low-temperature template-directed ALD followed by subsequent annealing. The ALD-grown, anatase, TiO2 nanotubes in alumina template show unusual crystal growth behavior which allows to form remarkably large grains along axial direction over certain wall thickness. We also fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) introducing our anatase TiO2 nanotubes as photoanodes, and studied the effect of blocking layer, TiO2 thin films formed by ALD, on overall device efficiency. The photon convertsion efficiency ~7% were measured for our TiO2 nanotubebased DSCs with blocking layers, which is ~1% higher than ones without blocking layer. We also performed open circuit voltage decay measurement to estimate recombination rate in our cells, which is 3 times longer than conventional nanoparticulate photoanodes. The high efficiency of our ALD-grown, anatase, TiO2 nanotube-based DSCs may be attributed to both enhanced charge transport property of our TiO2 nanotubes photoanode and the suppression of recombination at the interface between transparent conducting electrode and iodine electrolytes by blocking layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.175-175
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• 2010

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films are widely used as transparent conducting thin film material for application in various fields such as solar cells, optoelectronic devices, heat mirrors and gas sensors, etc. Recently the increased utilization of many transparent electrodes has accelerated the development of inexpensive TCO materials. Indium tin oxide (ITO) film is well-known for TCO materials because of its low resistivity, but there is disadvantage that it is too expensive. ZnO film is cheaper than ITO but it shows thermally poor stability. On the contrary, antimony-doped tin oxide films (ATO) are more stable than TCO films such as Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and ITO. Moreover, SnO2 film shows the best thermal and chemical stability, low cost and mechanical durability except the poor conductivity. However, annealing is proved to improve the conductivity of ATO film. Therefore, in this work, antimony (6 wt%) doped tin oxide films to improve the conductivity were deposited on 7059 corning glass by RF magnetron sputtering method for the application to transparent electrodes. In general, of all TCO films, glass is the most commonly selected substrate. However, for future development in flexible devices, glass is limited by its intrinsic inflexibility. In this study, we report the growth and properties of antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) films deposited on PES flexible substrate by using RF magnetron sputtering. The optimization process was performed varying the sputtering parameters, such as RF power and working pressure, and parameter effect on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the ATO films were investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.176-181
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• 2009

In this work, a new type of DSCs based on nanoporous FTO structure is being developed for research aimed at low-cost high-efficiency solar cell application. The nanoporous FTO materials have been prepared through the sol-gel combustion method followed by thermal treatment at $450{\sim}850[^{\circ}C]$. The properties of the nanoporous FTO materials were investigated by IR spectra, BET and TEM analyses, and the photovoltaic performance of the prepared DSCs were examined. It can be seen from the result that the nanoporous FTO exhibited good transparent conductive properties, well suited for DSCs application.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2015

CIGS solar cell consisted of various films. In this research, we investigated electrode materials in $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$ (CIGS) cells, including Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al), intrinsic ZnO (i-ZnO), and Al films. The sputtered ZnO:Al film with a sputtering power at 200W showed the lowest series resistance and highest cell efficiency. The electrical resistivity of the 200-W sputtered ZnO:Al film was $5.2{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ by the rapid thermal annealing at $200^{\circ}C$ for 1 min. The electrical resistivity of i-ZnO was not measurable due to its high resistance. But the optical transmittance was highest with less oxygen supply and high efficiency cell was achieved with $O_2/(Ar+O_2)$ ratio was 1% due to the increase of short-circuit current. No significant change in the cell performance by inserting a Ni layer between Al and ZnO:Al films was observed.