• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.128-132
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• 2021

Advances in screen printing technology have been led to development of high efficiency silicon solar cells. As a post PERx structure, an n-type wafer-based rear side TOPCon structure has been actively researched for further open-circuit voltage (Voc) improvement. In the case of the metal contact of the TOPCon structure, the poly-Si thickness is very important because the passivation of the substrate will be degraded when the metal paste penetrates until substrate. However, the thin poly-Si layer has advantages in terms of current density due to reduction of parasitic absorption. Therefore, poly-Si thickness and firing temperature must be considered to optimize the metal contact of the TOPCon structure. In this paper, we varied poly-Si thickness and firing peak temperature to evaluate metal induced recombination (Jom) and contact resistivity. Jom was evaluated by using PL imaging technique which does not require both side metal contact. As a results, we realized that the SiN_x deposition conditions can affect the metal contact of the TOPCon structure.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.145-159
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• 2021

Light soaking (LS) stability in polymer solar cells (PSCs) has always been a challenge to achieve due to unstable photoactive layer-electrode interface. Especially, the electron transport layer (ETL) and photoactive layer interface limits the LS stability of PSCs. Herein, we have modified the most commonly used and robust zinc oxide (ZnO) ETL-interface using an organic dye molecule and a co-adsorbent. Power conversion efficiencies have been slightly improved but when these PSCs were subjected to long term LS stability chamber, equipped with heat and humidity (45℃ and 85% relative humidity), an outstanding stability in the case of ZnO/dye+co-adsorbent ETL containing devices have been achieved. The enhanced LS stability occurred due to the suppressed interfacial defects and robust contact between the ZnO and photoactive layer. Current density as well as fill factors have been retained after LS with the modified ETL as compared to un-modified ETL, owing to their higher charge collection efficiencies which originated from higher electron mobilities. Moreover, the existence of less traps (as observed from light intensity-open circuit voltage measurements and dark currents at -2V) are also found to be one of the reasons for enhanced LS stability in the current study. We conclude that the mitigation ETL-surface traps using an organic dye with a co-adsorbent is an effective and robust approach to enhance the LS stability in PSCs.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.246-256
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• 2021

Mo,Cu-doped CeO₂ (CMCuO) nanopowders were synthesized by the nitrate-fuel combustion method aiming to improve the electrical and electrochemical properties of its Mo-doped CeO₂ (CMO) parent by the addition of copper. An electrical conductivity of ca. 1.22·10^-2 S cm^-1 was measured in air at 800℃ for CMCuO, which is nearly 10 times higher than that reported for CMO. This increase was associated with the inclusion of copper into the crystal lattice of ceria and the presence of Cu and Cu₂O as secondary phases in the CMCuO structure, which also could explain the increase in the charge transfer activities of the CMCuO based anode for the hydrogen and carbon monoxide electro-oxidation processes compared to the CMO based anode. A maximum power density of ca. 120 mW cm^-2 was measured using a CMCuO based anode in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with YSZ electrolyte and LSM-YSZ cathode operating at 800℃ with humidified syngas as fuel, which is comparable to the power output reported for other SOFCs with anodes containing copper. An increase in the area specific resistance of the SOFC was observed after ca. 10 hours of operation under cycling open circuit voltage and polarization conditions, which was attributed to the anode delamination caused by the reduction of the Cu₂O secondary phase contained in its microstructure. Therefore, the addition of a more electroactive phase for hydrogen oxidation is suggested to confer long-term stability to the CMCuO based anode.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제33권6호
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• pp.743-748
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• 2022

The initial operation stability of hydrogen-fueled, solid oxide fuel cell with Ni thin-film anode fabricated by direct current sputtering was evaluated in terms of electrochemical properties such as peak power density, open circuit voltage, overpotential, and alternating current impedance at 500℃. Hydrogen and air were used as anode fuel and cathode fuel, respectively.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.233-240
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• 2023

p-type Tunnel Oxide Passivating Contacts (TOPCon) solar cell is fabricated with a poly-Si/SiO_x structure. It simultaneously achieves surface passivation and enhances the carriers' selective collection, which is a promising technology for conventional solar cells. The quality of passivation is depended on the quality of the tunnel oxide layer at the interface with the c-Si wafer, which is affected by the bond of SiO formed during the subsequent annealing process. The highest cell efficiency reported to date for the laboratory scale has increased to 26.1%, fabricated by the Institute for Solar Energy Research. The cells used a p-type float zone silicon with an interdigitated back contact (IBC) structure that fabricates poly-Si and SiO_x layer achieves the highest implied open-circuit voltage (iV_oc) is 750 mV, and the highest level of edge passivation is 40%. This review presents an overview of p-type TOPCon technologies, including the ultra-thin silicon oxide layer (SiO_x) and poly-silicon layer (poly-Si), as well as the advancement of the SiO_x and poly-Si layers. Subsequently, the limitations of improving efficiency are discussed in detail. Consequently, it is expected to provide a basis for the simplification of industrial mass production.

• 해양환경안전학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.223-229
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• 2023

해수이차전지는 해수를 양극으로 사용하는 차세대 이차전지이다, 해양 자원을 사용하여 가격 경쟁력과 높은 친환경성, 그리고 해양 애플리케이션에 적합한 구조를 가진다. 이러한 장점을 기반으로 지속적 연구개발을 통해 자연 해수 노출을 가정한 파우치 타입 및 각형 타입이 개발되어 왔다. 그러나 이차전지는 전기적 특성상 사용 환경에 따라 용량 및 내부 임피던스가 달라진다. 이러한 특성은 전지의 수명 예측에 활용될 뿐만 아니라 활용하고자 하는 상황에 맞는 용량과 출력에 직접적인 영향을 미친다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 해수이차전지의 사용 환경에 따른 용량 측정과 SoC-OCV 측정 방법을 통한 내부 저항을 분석하고자 한다.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제34권6호
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• pp.673-681
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• 2023

Hydrocarbon-based polymer membranes to replace perfluorinated polymer membranes are being continuously researched. However, hydrocarbon-based membranes have a problem in that they are less durable than fluorine-based membranes. In this study, we sought to compare the annealing effect to improve the durability of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK). After membranes formation, thermogravimetric analysis and tensile strength were measured to compare changes in membranes properties due to annealing. After manufacturing the membrane and electrode assembly (MEA), the initial performance and chemical durability was compared with unit cell operation. During the 24-hour annealing process, the strength increased due to the increase in-S-O-S-crosslinking, and the sulfonic acid group decreased, leading to a decrease in I-V performance. By annealing, the hydrogen permeability was reduced to less than 1/10 of that of the nafion membrane, and as a result, open circuit voltage (OCV) and durability was improved. The SPEEK membranes annealed for 24 hours showed higher durability than the nafion 211 membranes of the same thickness.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.89.1-89.1
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• 2010

Since Gratzel and co-workers developed a new type of solar cell based on the nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ electrode, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted considerable attention on account of their high solar energy-to-conversion efficiencies (11%), their easy manufacturing process with low cost production compared to conventional p-n junction solar cells. The mechanism of DSSC is based on the injection of electrons from the photoexcited dye into the conduction band of nanocrystalline $TiO_2$. The oxidized dye is reduced by the hole injection process from either the hole counter or electrolyte. Thus, the electronic structures, such as HOMO, LUMO, and HOMO-LUMO gap, of dye molecule in DSSC are deeply related to the electron transfer by photoexcitation and redox potential. To date, high performance and good stability of DSSC based on Ru-dyes as a photosensitizer had been widely addressed in the literatures. DSSC with Ru-bipyridyl complexes (N3 and N719), and the black ruthenium dye have achieved power conversion efficiencies up to 11.2% and 10.4%, respectively. However, the Ru-dyes are facing the problem of manufacturing costs and environmental issues. In order to obtain even cheaper photosensitizers for DSSC, metal-free organic photosensitizers are strongly desired. Metal-free organic dyes offer superior molar extinction coefficients, low cost, and a diversity of molecular structures, compared to conventional Ru-dyes. Recently, novel photosensitizers such as coumarin, merocyanine, cyanine, indoline, hemicyanine, triphenylamine, dialkylaniline, bis(dimethylfluorenyl)-aminophenyl, phenothiazine, tetrahydroquinoline, and carbazole based dyes have achieved solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiencies up to 5-9%. On the other hand, organic dye molecules have large ${\pi}$-conjugated planner structures which would bring out strong molecular stacking in their solid-state and poor solubility in their media. It was well known that the molecular stacking of organic dyes could reduce the electron transfer pathway in opto-electronic devices, significantly. In this paper, we have studied on synthesis and characterization of dendritic organic dyes with different number of electron acceptor/anchoring moieties in the end of dendrimer. The photovoltaic performances and the incident photon-to-current (IPCE) of these dyes were measured to evaluate the effects of the dendritic strucuture on the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제33권9호
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• pp.3061-3070
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• 2012

Novel 2-hexylthieno[3,2-b]thiophene-containing conjugated molecules have been synthesized via a reduction reaction using tin chloride in an acidic medium. They exhibited good solubility in common organic solvents and good self-film and crystal-forming properties. The single-crystalline objects were fabricated by a solvent slow diffusion process and then were employed for fabricating field-effect transistors (FETs) along with thinfilm transistors (TFTs). TFTs made of 5 and 6 exhibited carrier mobility as high as 0.10-0.15 $cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$. The single-crystal-based FET made of 6 showed 0.70 $cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ which was relatively higher than that of the 5-based FET (${\mu}=0.23cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$). In addition, we fabricated organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells with new 2-hexylthieno [3,2-b]thiophene-containing conjugated molecules and methanofullerene [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester ($PC_{61}BM$) without thermal annealing. The ternary system for a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OPV cell was elaborated using $PC_{61}BM$ and two p-type conjugated molecules such as 5 and 7 for modulating the molecular energy levels. As a result, the OPV cell containing 5, 7, and $PC_{61}BM$ had improved results with an open-circuit voltage of 0.90 V, a short-circuit current density of 2.83 $mA/cm^2$, and a fill factor of 0.31, offering an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.78%, which was larger than those of the devices made of only molecule 5 (${\eta}$~0.67%) or 7 (${\eta}$~0.46%) with $PC_{61}BM$ under identical weight compositions.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.97-102
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• 2019

Bifacial and semitransparent hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells in p-i-n configuration were prepared with front and rear transparent conducting oxide (TCO) electrodes using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. Fluorine-doped tin oxide and tin-doped indium oxide films were used as front and rear TCO contacts, respectively. Film thickness of intrinsic a-Si:H absorber layers were controlled from 150 nm to 450 nm by changing deposition time. The dependence of performance characteristics of solar cells on the front and rear illumination direction were investigated. For front illumination, gradual increase in the short-circuit current density (J_SC) from 10.59 mA/㎠ to 14.19 mA/㎠ was obtained, whereas slight decreases from 0.83 V to 0.81 V for the open-circuit voltage (V_OC) and from 68.43% to 65.75% for fill factor (FF) were observed. The average optical transmittance in the wavelength region of 380 ~ 780 nm of the solar cells decreased gradually from 22.76% to 15.67% as the absorber thickness was changed from 150 nm to 450 nm. In case of the solar cells under rear illumination condition, the J_SC increased from 10.81 to 12.64 mA/㎠ and the FF deceased from 66.63% to 61.85%, while the V_OC values were maintained at 0.80 V with increasing the absorber thickness from 150 nm to 450 nm. By optimizing the deposition parameters, a high-quality bifacial and semitransparent a-Si:H solar cell with 350 nm-thick i-a-Si:H absorber layer exhibited the conversion efficiencies of 7.69% for front illumination and 6.40% for rear illumination, and average visible optical transmittance of 17.20%.