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- Title
- DEVELOPMENT OF TITANIUM NITRIDE/MOLYBDENUM DISULPHIDE COMPOSITE TRIBOLOGICAL COATINGS FOR CRYOCOOLERS.
- Creator
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Pai, Anil, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Hydrogen is a clean and sustainable form of carrier of energy that can be used in mobile and stationary applications. At present hydrogen is produced mostly from fossil sources. Solar photoelectrochemical processes are being developed for hydrogen production. Storing hydrogen can be done in three main ways: in compressed form, liquid form and by chemical bonding. Near term spaceport operations are one of the prominent applications for usage of large quantities of liquid hydrogen as a...
Show moreHydrogen is a clean and sustainable form of carrier of energy that can be used in mobile and stationary applications. At present hydrogen is produced mostly from fossil sources. Solar photoelectrochemical processes are being developed for hydrogen production. Storing hydrogen can be done in three main ways: in compressed form, liquid form and by chemical bonding. Near term spaceport operations are one of the prominent applications for usage of large quantities of liquid hydrogen as a cryogenic propellant. Efficient storage and transfer of liquid hydrogen is essential for reducing the launch costs. A Two Stage Reverse Turbo Brayton Cycle (RTBC) CryoCooler is being developed at University of Central Florida. The cryocooler will be used for storage and transport of hydrogen in spaceport and space vehicle application. One part in development of the cryocooler is to reduce the friction and wear between mating parts thus increasing its efficiency. Tribological coatings having extremely high hardness, ultra-low coefficient of friction, and high durability at temperatures lower than 60 K are being developed to reduce friction and wear between the mating parts of the cryocooler thus improving its efficiency. Nitrides of high-melting-point metals (e.g. TiN, ZrN) and diamond-like-carbon (DLC) are potential candidates for cryogenic applications as these coatings have shown good friction behavior and wear resistance at cryogenic temperatures. These coatings are known to have coefficient of friction less than 0.1 at room temperature. However, cryogenic environment leads to increase in the coefficient of friction. It is expected that a composite consisting of a base layer of a hard coating covered with layer having an ultra-low coefficient of friction would provide better performance. Extremely hard and extremely low friction coatings of titanium nitride, molybdenum disulphide, TiN/MoS2 bilayer coatings, DLC and DLC/MoS2 bilayer coatings have been chosen for this application. TiN film was deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering system from a titanium target and MoS2 film was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a MoS2 target. Microwave assisted chemical vapor deposition (MWCVD) technique was used for preparation of DLC coatings. These composite coatings contain a solid lubricating phase and a hard ceramic matrix phase as distinctly segregated phases. These are envisioned as having the desired combination of lubricity and structural integrity. Extremely hard coatings of TiN and DLC were chosen to provide good wear resistance and MoS2 was chosen as the lubricating phase as it provides excellent solid lubricating properties due to its lamellar crystal structure. This thesis presents preparation; characterization (SEM and XRD), microhardness and tribological measurements carried out on TiN and TiN/MoS2 coatings on aluminum and glass substrate at room temperature. It also presents initial development in preparation of DLC coatings.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000326, ucf:46305
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000326
- Title
- ZINC CADMIUM SULPHIDE AND ZINC SULPHIDE AS ALTERNATIVE HETEROJUNCTION PARTNERS FOR CIGS2 SOLAR CELLS.
- Creator
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Kumar, Bhaskar, Dhere, Neelkanth G, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Devices with ZnCdS/ZnS heterojunction partner layer have shown better blue photon response due to higher band gap of these compounds as compared to devices with CdS heterojunction partner layer. CdS heterojunction partner layer has shown high photovoltaic conversion efficiencies with CIGS absorber layer while efficiencies are lower with CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2). A negative conduction band offset has been observed for CdS/CIGS2 as compared to near flat conduction band alignment in case of CdS/CIGS...
Show moreDevices with ZnCdS/ZnS heterojunction partner layer have shown better blue photon response due to higher band gap of these compounds as compared to devices with CdS heterojunction partner layer. CdS heterojunction partner layer has shown high photovoltaic conversion efficiencies with CIGS absorber layer while efficiencies are lower with CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2). A negative conduction band offset has been observed for CdS/CIGS2 as compared to near flat conduction band alignment in case of CdS/CIGS devices, which results in higher interface dominated recombination. Moreover, it has been predicted that optimum band offsets for higher efficiency solar cells may be achieved for cells with alternative heterojunction partner such as ZnS. With varying ratio of Zn/ (Zn+Cd) in ZnxCd1-xS a range of bandgap energies can be obtained and thus an optimum band offset can be engineered. For reducing interface dominated recombination better lattice match between absorber and heterojunction partners is desirable. Although CdS has better lattice match with CuIn1-xGaxS2 absorber layer, same is not true for CuIn1-xGaxS2 absorber layers. Utilizing ZnxCd1-xS as heterojunction partner provides a range of lattice constant (between aZnS= ~5.4 Ǻ and aCdS= ~5.7 Ǻ) depending on Zn/(Zn+Cd). Therefore better lattice match can be obtained between heterojunction partner and absorber layer. Better lattice match will lead to lower interface dominated recombination, hence higher open circuit voltages. In the present study chemical bath deposition parameters are near optimized for high efficiency CIGS2 Solar cells. Effect of various chemical bath deposition parameters on device performance was studied and attempts were made to optimize the deposition parameters in order to improve the device performance.In/(In+Ga) ratio in absorber layer is varied to obtain good lattice match and optimum band alignment. Solar cells with conversion efficiencies comparable to conventional CdS/CIGS2 has been obtained with ZnxCd1-xS /CIGS2. High short current as well as higher open circuit voltages were obtained with ZnxCd1-xS as alternative heterojunction partner for CIGS2 solar cells as compared to SLG/Mo/CIGS2/ CdS / i-ZnO/ZnO:Al.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001936, ucf:47469
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001936
- Title
- EFFECT OF COMPOSITION, MORPHOLOGY AND SEMICONDUCTING PROPERTIES ON THE EFFICIENCY OF CUIN1-XGAXSE2-YSY THIN-FILM SOLAR CELLS PREPARED BY RAPID THERMAL PROCESSING.
- Creator
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Kulkarni, Sachin, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A rapid thermal processing (RTP) reactor for the preparation of graded CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy (CIGSeS) thin-film solar cells has been designed, assembled and is being used at the Photovoltaic Materials Laboratory of the Florida Solar Energy Center. CIGSeS films having the optimum composition, morphology, and semiconducting properties were prepared using RTP. Initially films having various Cu/(In+Ga) ratios were prepared. In the next step selenium incorporation in these films was optimized,...
Show moreA rapid thermal processing (RTP) reactor for the preparation of graded CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy (CIGSeS) thin-film solar cells has been designed, assembled and is being used at the Photovoltaic Materials Laboratory of the Florida Solar Energy Center. CIGSeS films having the optimum composition, morphology, and semiconducting properties were prepared using RTP. Initially films having various Cu/(In+Ga) ratios were prepared. In the next step selenium incorporation in these films was optimized, followed by sulfur incorporation in the surface to increase the bandgap at the surface. The compositional gradient of sulfur was fine-tuned so as to increase the conversion efficiency. Materials properties of these films were characterized by optical microscopy, SEM, AFM, EDS, XRD, GIXRD, AES, and EPMA. The completed cells were extensively studied by electrical characterization. Current-voltage (I-V), external and internal quantum efficiency (EQE and IQE), capacitance-voltage (C-V), and light beam induced current (LBIC) analysis were carried out. Current Density (J)-Voltage (V) curves were obtained at different temperatures. The temperature dependence of the open circuit voltage and fill factor has been estimated. The bandgap value calculated from the intercept of the linear extrapolation was ~1.1-1.2 eV. Capacitance-voltage analysis gave a carrier density of ~4.0 x 1015 cm-3. Semiconductor properties analysis of CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy (CIGSeS) thin-film solar cells has been carried out. The values of various PV parameters determined using this analysis were as follows: shunt resistance (Rp) of ~510 Ohms-cm2 under illumination and ~1300 Ohms-cm2 in dark, series resistance (Rs) of ~0.8 Ohms-cm2 under illumination and ~1.7 Ohms-cm2 in dark, diode quality factor (A) of 1.87, and reverse saturation current density (Jo) of 1.5 x 10-7A cm-2. The efficiency of 12.78% obtained during this research is the highest efficiency obtained by any University or National Lab for copper chalcopyrite solar cells prepared by RTP. CIGS2 cells have a better match to the solar spectrum due to their comparatively higher band-gap as compared to CIGS cells. However, they are presently limited to efficiencies below 13% which is considerably lower than that of CIGS cells of 19.9%. One of the reasons for this lower efficiency is the conduction band offset between the CIGS2 absorber layer and the CdS heterojunction partner layer. The band offset value between CIGS2 and CdS was estimated by a combination of ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and Inverse Photoemission Spectroscopy (IPES) to be -0.45 eV, i.e. a cliff is present between these two layers, enhancing the recombination at the junction, this limits the efficiency of CIGS2 wide-gap chalcopyrite solar cells.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002467, ucf:47728
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002467
- Title
- EFFECT OF SODIUM AND ABSORBER THICKNESS ON CIGS2 THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS.
- Creator
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Vasekar, Parag, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Chalcopyrites are important contenders among solar cell technologies due to direct band gap and higher absorption coefficient. CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2) thin-film solar cells are of interest for space power applications because of near optimum bandgap of 1.5 eV for AM0 solar radiation outside the earth's atmosphere. The record efficiency of 11.99% has been achieved on a 2.7 µm CIGS2 thin film prepared by sulfurization at FSEC PV Materials Laboratory. Since CIGS2 films are typically grown...
Show moreChalcopyrites are important contenders among solar cell technologies due to direct band gap and higher absorption coefficient. CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2) thin-film solar cells are of interest for space power applications because of near optimum bandgap of 1.5 eV for AM0 solar radiation outside the earth's atmosphere. The record efficiency of 11.99% has been achieved on a 2.7 µm CIGS2 thin film prepared by sulfurization at FSEC PV Materials Laboratory. Since CIGS2 films are typically grown in copper-rich regime, excess cuprous sulfide which helps in the formation of CIGS2 is etched away. This makes CIGS2 nearly stoichiometric. However, it is difficult to adjust Cu/(In+Ga) ratio in the desired range 0.7 to 0.9. A solution to this is to grow CIGS2 in copper-deficient regime. However, it is difficult to produce device quality films without the support of cuprous sulfide. This work is one of the very few attempts in which device quality films were formed even in copper-deficient regimes with the addition of sodium. Also, recent research endeavors in the CIGS2 thin film photovoltaic community are directed towards thinner films because the availability and cost of indium as well as gallium are limiting factors. The required amounts of rare and expensive metals can be lowered by using thinner films. The solar cell performance in the thinner absorbers deteriorates due to the detrimental effects of the larger fraction of grain boundaries. It is essential to hasten the grain growth through coalescence to retain high efficiency in devices prepared using thinner films. Large grain size that is desirable for obtaining high efficiency cells can be achieved by creating conditions of fewer nucleation sites and large mobilities of the deposited species. Sodium has been found to play a vital role by enhancing the atomic mobility and improving the coalescence even in thinner films. This work presents a study of morphology and device properties of CIGS2 thin films with Copper-deficient absorbers after minute amounts of sodium are introduced on the Mo-coated substrate in the form of sodium fluoride layer prior to sputter deposition of copper-gallium alloy and indium. Photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 9.15% was obtained for copper-deficient absorbers. In a parallel set of experiments, copper-rich precursors were used to produce absorbers of lower thickness range values and the parameters were optimized. Photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 10.12% was obtained for an absorber of thickness 1.5 µm and an efficiency of 9.62% was obtained for an absorber of thickness 1.2 µm.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002525, ucf:47671
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002525
- Title
- DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPARENT AND CONDUCTING BACK CONTACTS ON CDS/CDTE SOLAR CELLS FOR PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL APPLICATION.
- Creator
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Avachat, Upendra, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The development of devices with high efficiencies can only be attained by tandem structures which are important to the advancement of thin-film photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. FSEC PV Materials Lab has developed a PEC cell using multiple bandgap tandem of thin film PV cells and a photocatalyst for hydrogen production by water splitting. CdS/CdTe solar cell, a promising candidate for low-cost, thin-film PV cell is used as one of the thin film solar cells in a PEC...
Show moreThe development of devices with high efficiencies can only be attained by tandem structures which are important to the advancement of thin-film photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. FSEC PV Materials Lab has developed a PEC cell using multiple bandgap tandem of thin film PV cells and a photocatalyst for hydrogen production by water splitting. CdS/CdTe solar cell, a promising candidate for low-cost, thin-film PV cell is used as one of the thin film solar cells in a PEC cell. This research work focuses on developing various back contacts with good transparency in the infrared region (~750 - 1150 nm) for a CdS/CdTe solar cell. CdS/CdTe solar cells were prepared with three different configurations, Glass/SnO2:F/CdS/CdTe/ZnTe:Cu/ITO/Ni-Al (series 1), Glass/SnO2:F/CdS/CdTe/Cu2Te/ITO/Ni-Al (series 2), Glass/SnO2:F/CdS/CdTe/Br-Me etching/Cu/ITO/Ni-Al (series 3). The back contact preparation process for a CdS/CdTe solar cell involves the deposition of a primary p-type back contact interface layer followed by the deposition of transparent and conducting ITO and a Ni-Al outer metallization layer. Back contact interface layers were initially optimized on glass substrates. A ZnTe:Cu layer for a series 1 cell was deposited using hot wall vacuum evaporation (HWVE). Cu2Te and Cu thin films for series 2 and series 3 cells were deposited by vacuum evaporation. HWVE technique produced highly stoichiometric ZnTe:Cu thin films with cubic phase having {111} texture orientation. All the back contact interface layers demonstrated better transparency in the infrared region on glass substrate. Formation of crystalline phase and texture orientation were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The composition was analyzed by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Transparency measurements were carried out by optical transmission spectroscopy. Thickness measurements were carried out using a DEKTAK surface profile measuring system. Finally, completed solar cells for all the series were characterized for current-voltage (I-V) measurements using the I-V measurement setup developed at the FSEC PV Materials Lab. The PV parameters for the best series 1 cell measured at an irradiance of 1000 W/m2 were: open circuit voltage, Voc = 630 mV, short circuit current, Isc = 7.68 mA/ cm2, fill factor, FF = 37.91 %, efficiency, ç = 3.06 %. The PV parameters for the best series 2 cell measured were: Voc = 690 mV, Isc = 8.7 mA/ cm2, FF = 45.19 %, ç = 4.8 %. The PV parameters for the best series 3 cell measured were: Voc = 550 mV, Isc = 9.70 mA/ cm2, FF = 42.25 %, ç = 5.63 %. The loss in efficiency was attributed to the possible formation of a non-ohmic contact at the interface of CdTe and back contact interface layer. Decrease in the fill factor was attributed to high series resistance in the device.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000682, ucf:46483
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000682
- Title
- HIGH VOLTAGE BIAS TESTING AND DEGRADATION ANALYSIS OF PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULES.
- Creator
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Hadagali, Vinaykumar, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis mainly focuses on two important aspects of the photovoltaic modules. The first aspect addressed the high voltage bias testing and data and degradation analysis of high voltage biased thin film photovoltaic modules. The second aspect addressed the issues of reliability and durability of crystalline silicon module. Grid-connected photovoltaic systems must withstand high voltage bias in addition to harsh environmental conditions such as intermittent solar irradiance, high humidity,...
Show moreThis thesis mainly focuses on two important aspects of the photovoltaic modules. The first aspect addressed the high voltage bias testing and data and degradation analysis of high voltage biased thin film photovoltaic modules. The second aspect addressed the issues of reliability and durability of crystalline silicon module. Grid-connected photovoltaic systems must withstand high voltage bias in addition to harsh environmental conditions such as intermittent solar irradiance, high humidity, heat and wind. a-Si:H thin-film photovoltaic modules with earlier generation SnO2:F transparent conducting oxide (TCO) on the front glass installed on the FSEC High Voltage Test Bed were monitored since December 2001. The data was collected on a daily basis and analyzed. The leakage currents for some chosen time period were calculated and compared with the measured values. Current-voltage characteristic measurements were carried out to check any reduction in the power. Samples were cored and extracted for analysis from one of the -600 V biased modules. Leakage currents in high-voltage-biased laminates specially prepared with improved SnO2:F TCO are being monitored in the hot and humid climate in Florida. Negatively-biased modules showed clear signs of delamination. The leakage currents in high-voltage biased photovoltaic modules are functions of both temperature and relative humidity. Photovoltaic module leakage conductance was found to be thermally stimulated with a characteristic activation energy that depends on relative humidity. The adhesional strength was lost completely in the damaged area. Leakage current values from support to ground in new, unframed laminates fabricated with improved SnO2:F TCO layer were ~100 times lower under the high voltage bias in hot and humid environment. Information on the failure of field deployed modules must be complemented with why and how the modules fail while considering the issues of reliability and durability of crystalline silicon module. At present, all the failure modes have not been identified and failure mechanisms have not been understood. Experience has shown that as the materials and processes are changed, reliability issues that apparently had been resolved resurface. A multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic module that was manufactured by a non-US company and that had shown >50% performance loss in field-deployment of <2 years in hot and dry climate were studied for degradation analysis in comparison with a mc-Si module that was manufactured by the same company and that performed well after 10 years of field-deployment in hot and humid climate.. I-V measurements were carried out to analyze the reduction in photovoltaic parameters. Solder bond strength in mc-Si photovoltaic modules were measured to understand early degradation of performance. Samples were cored and extracted for further analysis. Adhesional strength between the busline metallization and the silicon cell in a newer generation mc-Si photovoltaic module was found to be considerably lower than that in the earlier vintage module. These results can be useful for early detection and diagnosis of field reliability issues and could assist in establishing correlation between long-term field data and observations and accelerated environmental stress testing. It is suggested that more detailed study should be undertaken using unencapsulated strings of crystalline silicon modules so as to avoid complication due to encapsulant creeping beneath the ribbons.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000798, ucf:46563
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000798
- Title
- PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CIGSS SOLAR CELLS AND PV MODULE DATA ANALYSIS.
- Creator
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Shirolikar, Jyoti, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In this thesis, multiple activities have been carried out in order to improve the process of CIGSS solar cell fabrication on a 4" x 4" substrate. The process of CIGSS solar cell fabrication at FSEC's PV Materials Lab involves a series of steps that were all carried out manually in the past. A LABVIEW program has been written to carry out automated sputter deposition of Mo back contact, CuGa, In metallic precursors on a soda lime glass substrate using a stepper motor control for better...
Show moreIn this thesis, multiple activities have been carried out in order to improve the process of CIGSS solar cell fabrication on a 4" x 4" substrate. The process of CIGSS solar cell fabrication at FSEC's PV Materials Lab involves a series of steps that were all carried out manually in the past. A LABVIEW program has been written to carry out automated sputter deposition of Mo back contact, CuGa, In metallic precursors on a soda lime glass substrate using a stepper motor control for better uniformity. Further, selenization/ sulfurization of these precursors was carried out using rapid thermal processing (RTP). CIGS films were sulfurized using chemical bath deposition (CBD). ZnO:Al was deposited on the CIGSS films using RF sputtering. A separate LABVIEW program was written to automate the process of ZnO:Al deposition. Ni/Al contact fingers were deposited on the ZnO:Al layer using the e-beam evaporation technique. Further, in order to test these solar cells in-house, a simple current-voltage (IV) tracer was fabricated using LABVIEW. A quantum efficiency (QE) measurement setup was built with guidance from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Lastly, analysis of data from photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on the FSEC test site has been carried out using a LABVIEW program in order to find out their rate of degradation as time progresses. A 'C' program has also been written as an aid for keeping a daily log of errors in data and for troubleshooting of the same.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000859, ucf:46645
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000859
- Title
- SOLAR DRIVEN PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING FOR HYDROGEN GENERATION USING MULTIPLE BANDGAP TANDEM OF CIGS2 PV CELLS AND THIN FILM PHOTOCATALYST.
- Creator
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Jahagirdar, Anant, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The main objective of this research was to develop efficient CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2)/CdS thin film solar cells for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce very pure hydrogen and oxygen. Efficiencies obtained using CIGS2 have been lower than those achieved using CuInSe2 and CuIn1-xGaxSe2. The basic limitation in the efficiencies is attributed to lower open circuit voltages with respect to the bandgap of the material. Presently, the main mechanism used to increase the open circuit...
Show moreThe main objective of this research was to develop efficient CuIn1-xGaxS2 (CIGS2)/CdS thin film solar cells for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting to produce very pure hydrogen and oxygen. Efficiencies obtained using CIGS2 have been lower than those achieved using CuInSe2 and CuIn1-xGaxSe2. The basic limitation in the efficiencies is attributed to lower open circuit voltages with respect to the bandgap of the material. Presently, the main mechanism used to increase the open circuit voltage of these copper chalcopyrites (CuInSe2 and CuInS2) is the addition of gallium. However, addition of gallium has its own challenges. This research was intended to (i) elucidate the advantages and disadvantages of gallium addition, (ii) provide an alternative technique to the photovoltaic (PV) community to increase the open circuit voltage which is independent of gallium additions, (iii) develop highly efficient CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cells and (iv) provide an alternative material in the form of CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cells and an advanced technology in the form of a multiple bandgap tandem for PEC water splitting. High gallium content was achieved by the incorporation of a highly excess copper composition. Attempts to achieve high gallium content produced reasonable but not the best solar cell performance. Few solar cells developed on a molybdenum back contact and an ITO/MoS2 transparent conducting back contact showed a PV conversion efficiency of 7.93% and 5.97%, respectively. The solar cells developed on the ITO/MoS2 back contact form the first generation CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cells and 5.97% is the first ever reported efficiency on an ITO/MoS2 transparent back contact. Reasons for the moderate performance of these solar cells were attributed to significant porosity and remnants of unsulfurized CuGa alloy in the bulk of CIGS2. This was the first attempt to a detailed study of materials and device characteristics of CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cells prepared starting with a highly excess copper content CIGS2 layer. Next, excess copper composition of 1.4 (equivalent to gallium content, x = 0.3) was chosen with the aim to achieve the best efficiency. The open circuit voltage was enhanced by depositing an intermediate layer of intrinsic ZnO between CdS and ZnO:Al layers. The systematic study of requirements for such a layer and further optimization of its thickness to achieve a higher open circuit voltage (which is the greatest challenge of the scientific community) forms an important scientific contribution of this research. The PV parameters for CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cell as measured officially at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory were: open circuit voltage of 830.5 mV, short circuit current density of 21.88 mA/cm2, fill factor of 69.13% and photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 11.99% which sets a new world record for CIGS2 cells developed using sulfurization and the open circuit voltage of 830.5 mV has become the "Voc champion value". New PEC setups with the RuS2 and Ru0.99Fe0.01S2 photoanodes were developed. RuS2 and Ru0.99Fe0.01S2 photoanodes were more stable in the electrolyte and showed better I-V characteristics than the RuO2 anode earlier used. Using two CIGS2/CdS thin film solar cells, a PEC efficiency of 8.78% was achieved with a RuS2 anode and a platinum cathode. Results of this research constitute a significant advance towards achieving practical feasibility and industrially viability of the technology of PEC hydrogen generation by water splitting.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000871, ucf:46666
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000871
- Title
- PREPARATION OF EFFICIENT CUIN1-XGAXSE2-YSY/CDS THIN-FILM SOLAR CELLS BY OPTIMIZING THE MOLYBDENUM BACK CONTACT AND USING DIETHYLSELENIDE AS SELENIUM PRECURSOR.
- Creator
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Kadam, Ankur, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
High efficiency CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy (CIGSS)/CdS thin-film solar cells were prepared by optimizing the Mo back contact layer and optimizing the parameters for preparing CIGSS absorber layer using diethylselenide as selenium source. The Mo film was sputter deposited on 2.5 cm x 10 cm soda-lime glass using DC magnetron sputtering for studying the adhesion and chemical reactivity with selenium and sulfur containing gas at maximum film growth temperature. Mo being a refractory material develops...
Show moreHigh efficiency CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy (CIGSS)/CdS thin-film solar cells were prepared by optimizing the Mo back contact layer and optimizing the parameters for preparing CIGSS absorber layer using diethylselenide as selenium source. The Mo film was sputter deposited on 2.5 cm x 10 cm soda-lime glass using DC magnetron sputtering for studying the adhesion and chemical reactivity with selenium and sulfur containing gas at maximum film growth temperature. Mo being a refractory material develops stresses, nature of which depends on the deposition power and argon pressure. It was found that the deposition sequence with two tensile stressed layers deposited at 200W and 5 x 10-3 Torr argon pressure when sandwiched between three compressively stressed layers deposited at 300 W power and 0.3 x 10-3 Torr argon pressure had the best adhesion, limited reactivity and compact nature. An organo-metallic compound, diethylselenide (DESe) was developed as selenium precursor to prepare CIGSS absorber layers. Metallic precursors Cu-In-Ga layers were annealing in the conventional furnace in the temperature range of 475oC to 515 oC and in the presence of a dilute DESe atmosphere. The films were grown in an indium rich regime. Systematic approaches lead to the optimization of each step involved in the preparation of the absorber layer. Initial experiments were focused on obtaining the range of maximum temperatures required for the growth of the film. The following experiments included optimization of soaking time at maximum temperature, quantity of metallic precursor, and amount of sodium in terms of NaF layer thickness required for selenization. The absorber surface was coated with a 50 to 60 nm thick layer of CdS as hetero-junction partner by chemical bath deposition. A window bi-layer of i:ZnO/ZnO:Al was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The thickness of i:ZnO was increased to reduce the shunt resistance to improve open circuit voltage. The cells were completed by depositing a Cr/Ag front contact by thermal evaporation. Efficiencies greater than 13% was achieved on glass substrates. The performance of the cells was co-related with the material properties.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001035, ucf:46822
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001035
- Title
- OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR REDUCED THICKNESS CIGSES THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS.
- Creator
-
Pethe, Shirish, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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With the advent of the 21st century, one of the serious problems facing mankind is harmful effects of global warming. Add to that the ever increasing cost of fuel and the importance of development of clean energy resources as alternative to fossil fuel has becomes one of the prime and pressing challenges for modern science and technology in the 21st century. Recent studies have shown that energy related sources account for 50% of the total emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. All...
Show moreWith the advent of the 21st century, one of the serious problems facing mankind is harmful effects of global warming. Add to that the ever increasing cost of fuel and the importance of development of clean energy resources as alternative to fossil fuel has becomes one of the prime and pressing challenges for modern science and technology in the 21st century. Recent studies have shown that energy related sources account for 50% of the total emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. All research activities are focused on developing various technologies that are capable of converting sunlight into electricity with high efficiency and can be produced using a cost-effective process. One of such technologies is the CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS) and its alloys that can be produced using cost-effective techniques and also exhibit high photo-conversion efficiency. The work presented here discusses some of the fundamental issues related to high volume production of CIGS thin film solar cells. Three principal issues that have been addressed in this work are effect of reduction in absorber thickness on device performance, micrononuniformity involved with amount of sodium and its effect on device performance and lastly the effect of working distance on the properties of molybdenum back contact. An effort has been made to understand the effect of absorber thickness on PV parameters and optimize the process parameters accordingly. Very thin (<1 µm) absorber film were prepared by selenization using metallorganic selenium source in a conventional furnace and by RTP using Se vapor. Sulfurization was carried out using H2S gas. Devices with efficiencies reaching 9% were prepared for very thin (<1 µm) CIGS and CIGSeS thin films. It was shown through this work that the absorber thickness reduction of 64% results in the efficiency drop of only 32%. With further optimization of the reaction process of the absorber layer as well as the other layers higher efficiencies can be achieved. The effect of sodium on the device performance is experimentally verified in this work. To the best of our knowledge the detrimental effect of excess sodium has been verified by experimental data and effort has been made to correlate the variation in PV parameter to theoretical models of effect of sodium. It has been a regular practice to deposit thin barrier layer prior to molybdenum deposition to reduce the micrononuniformities caused due to nonuniform out diffusion of sodium from the soda lime glass. However, it was proven in this work that an optimally thick barrier layer is necessary to reduce the out diffusion of sodium to negligible quantities and thus reduce the micrononuniformities. Molybdenum back contact deposition is a bottleneck in high volume manufacturing due to the current state of art where multi layer molybdenum film needs to be deposited to achieve the required properties. In order to understand and solve this problem experiments were carried out. The effect of working distance (distance between the target and the substrate) on film properties was studied and is presented in this work. During the course of this work efforts were taken to carry out a systematic and detailed study of some of the fundamental issues related to CIGS technology and particular for high volume manufacturing of CIGS PV modules and lay a good foundation for further improvement of PV performance of CIGS thin film solar cells prepared by the two step process of selenization and sulfurization of sputtered metallic precursors.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003517, ucf:48940
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003517
- Title
- CORRELATION BETWEEN PREPARATION PARAMETERS AND PROPERTIES OF MOLYBDENUM BACK CONTACT LAYER FOR CIGS THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS.
- Creator
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Takahashi, Eigo, Dhere, Neelkanth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Molybdenum (Mo) thin film back contact layers for thin film CuIn(1-x)GaxSe2 (CIGS) solar cells were deposited onto soda lime glass substrates using a direct current (DC) planar magnetron sputtering deposition technique. Requirements for the Mo thin film as a back contact layer for CIGS solar cells are various. Sheet resistance, contact resistance to the CIGS absorber, optical reflectance, surface morphology, and adhesion to the glass substrate are the most important properties that the Mo...
Show moreMolybdenum (Mo) thin film back contact layers for thin film CuIn(1-x)GaxSe2 (CIGS) solar cells were deposited onto soda lime glass substrates using a direct current (DC) planar magnetron sputtering deposition technique. Requirements for the Mo thin film as a back contact layer for CIGS solar cells are various. Sheet resistance, contact resistance to the CIGS absorber, optical reflectance, surface morphology, and adhesion to the glass substrate are the most important properties that the Mo thin film back contact layer must satisfy. Experiments were carried out under various combinations of sputtering power and working gas pressure, for it is well known that mechanical, morphological, optical, and electrical property of a sputter-deposited Mo thin film are dependent on these process parameters. Various properties of each Mo film were measured and discussed. Sheet resistances were measured using a four-point probe equipment and minimum value of 0.25 Ω/sq was obtained for the 0.6 õm-thick Mo film. Average surface roughnesses of each Mo film ranged from 15 to 26 àwere measured by Dektak profilometer which was also employed to measure film thicknesses. Resistivities were calculated from the sheet resistance and film thickness of each film. Minimum resistivity of 11.9 õΩ∙cm was obtained with the Mo thin film deposited at 0.1 mTorr and 250 W. A residual stress analysis was conducted with a bending beam technique with very thin glass strips, and maximum tensile stress of 358 MPa was obtained; however, films did not exhibit a compressive stress. Adhesive strengths were examined for all films with a ÃÂ"Scotch-tapeÃÂ" test, and all films showed a good adhesion to the glass substrate. Sputter-deposited Mo thin films are commonly employed as a back contact layer for CIGS and CuInSe2 (CIS)-based solar cells; however, there are several difficulties in fabricating a qualified back contact layer. Generally, Mo thin films deposited at higher sputtering power and lower working gas pressure tend to exhibit lower resistivity; however, such films have a poor adhesion to the glass substrate. On the other hand, films deposited at lower power and higher gas pressure tend to have a higher resistivity, whereas the films exhibit an excellent adhesion to the glass substrate. Therefore, it has been a practice to employ multi-layered Mo thin film back contact layers to achieve the properties of good adhesion to the glass substrate and low resistivity simultaneously. However, multi layer processes have a lower throughput and higher fabricating cost, and requires more elaborated equipment compared to single layer processes, which are not desirable from the industrial point of view. As can be seen, above mentioned process parameters and the corresponding Mo thin film properties are at the two extreme ends of the spectrum. Hence experiments were conducted to find out the mechanisms which influence the properties of Mo thin films by changing the two process parameters of working gas pressure and sputtering power individually. The relationships between process parameters and above mentioned properties were studied and explained. It was found that by selecting the process parameters properly, less resistive, appropriate-surfaced, and highly adhesive single layer Mo thin films for CIGS solar cells can be achieved.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003031, ucf:48353
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003031
- Title
- STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF SODIUM AND ABSORBER MICROSTRUCTURE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUIN1-XGAXSE2-YSY THIN FILM SOLAR CELL USING AN ALTERNATIVE SELENIUM PRECURSOR.
- Creator
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HADAGALI, VINAYKUMAR, DHERE, NEELKANTH, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Thin film solar cells have the potential to be an important contributor to the world energy demand in the 21st century. CuInGaSe2 thin film solar cells have achieved the highest efficiency among all the thin film technologies. A steady progress has been made in the research and development of CuInSe2 based thin film solar cells. However, there are many issues that need to be addressed for the development of CuInSe2 based thin films solar cells. High price of PV modules has been a biggest...
Show moreThin film solar cells have the potential to be an important contributor to the world energy demand in the 21st century. CuInGaSe2 thin film solar cells have achieved the highest efficiency among all the thin film technologies. A steady progress has been made in the research and development of CuInSe2 based thin film solar cells. However, there are many issues that need to be addressed for the development of CuInSe2 based thin films solar cells. High price of PV modules has been a biggest factor impeding the growth of photovoltaic modules for terrestrial application. This thesis tries to address the effects of sodium on the CIGSe and CIGSeS thin film absorbers. A progressive increase in the grain size and the degree of preferred orientation for (112) was observed with the increase in the amount of sodium available during the absorber growth. The distribution of sulfur was also influenced by the microstructure of the film. The increase in the grain size influenced the diffusion of sulfur in the CIGSeS thin film absorber. Deposition of silicon nitride alkali barrier was successfully completed. A new selenium precursor, dimethyl selenide was successfully used for the preparation of CIGSe and CIGSeS thin film solar cells. Systematic approaches lead to the optimization process parameters for the fabrication of the thin films solar cells. CIGSeS thin film solar cell with a reduced thickness of ~2 micron and an efficiency of 9.95% was prepared on sodalime glass substrate. The research presented here proves the potential of dimethyl selenide as selenium precursor to prepare device quality CIGSe absorber. The process can be further optimized to prepare highly efficient absorbers. Electron backscattered diffraction technique was used for first time to analyze the CIGSeS thin film absorbers. Kikuchi patterns and EBSD maps were obtained on the polished CIGSeS thin film absorbers. Grains with various orientations in the EBSD maps were clearly observed. However, it can also be observed that some pixels have not been indexed by the software. This might be due to the departure of crystalline structure of the film from CuInSe2 or the presence of amorphous phases. Data files for indexing and grain orientation of CIGSeS does not exist. However, with the help of lattice parameters and the position of atoms in the base the data file can be created for CIGSeS material.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002647, ucf:48192
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002647
- Title
- Optimization of Process Parameters for Faster Deposition of CuIn1-xGaxS2 and CuIn1-xGaxSe2-ySy Thin Film Solar Cells.
- Creator
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Kaul, Ashwani, Dhere, Neelkanth, Heinrich, Helge, Kar, Aravinda, Chow, Lee, Sundaram, Kalpathy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Thin film solar cells have the potential to be an important contributor to the world energy demand in the 21st century. Among all the thin film technologies, CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells have achieved the highest efficiency. However, the high price of photovoltaic (PV) modules has been a major factor impeding their growth for terrestrial applications. Reduction in cost of PV modules can be realized by several ways including choosing scalable processes amenable to large area...
Show moreThin film solar cells have the potential to be an important contributor to the world energy demand in the 21st century. Among all the thin film technologies, CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells have achieved the highest efficiency. However, the high price of photovoltaic (PV) modules has been a major factor impeding their growth for terrestrial applications. Reduction in cost of PV modules can be realized by several ways including choosing scalable processes amenable to large area deposition, reduction in the materials consumption of active layers, and attaining faster deposition rates suitable for in-line processing. Selenization-sulfurization of sputtered metallic Cu-In-Ga precursors is known to be more amenable to large area deposition. Sputter-deposited molybdenum thin film is commonly employed as a back contact layer for CIGS solar cells. However, there are several difficulties in fabricating an optimum back contact layer. It is known that molybdenum thin films deposited at higher sputtering power and lower gas pressure exhibit better electrical conductivity. However, such films exhibit poor adhesion to the soda-lime glass substrate. On the other hand, films deposited at lower discharge power and higher pressure although exhibit excellent adhesion show lower electrical conductivity. Therefore, a multilayer structure is normally used so as to get best from the two deposition regimes. A multi-pass processing is not desirable in high volume production because it prolongs total production time and correspondingly increases the manufacturing cost. In order to make manufacturing compliant with an in-line deposition, it is justifiable having fewer deposition sequences. Thorough analysis of pressure and power relationship of film properties deposited at various parameters has been carried out. It has been shown that it is possible to achieve a molybdenum back contact of desired properties in a single deposition pass by choosing the optimum deposition parameters. It is also shown that the film deposited in a single pass is actually a composite structure. CIGS solar cells have successfully been completed on the developed single layer back contact with National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) certified device efficiencies (>)11%. The optimization of parameters has been carried out in such a way that the deposition of back contact and metallic precursors can be carried out in identical pressure conditions which is essential for in-line deposition without a need for load-lock. It is know that the presence of sodium plays a very critical role during the growth of CIGS absorber layer and is beneficial for the optimum device performance. The effect of sodium location during the growth of the absorber layer has been studied so as to optimize its quantity and location in order to get devices with improved performance. NREL certified devices with efficiencies (>)12% have been successfully completed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004559, ucf:49261
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004559
- Title
- An uncooled mid-wave infrared detector based on optical response of laser-doped silicon carbide.
- Creator
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Lim, Geunsik, Kar, Aravinda, Coffey, Kevin, Vaidyanathan, Raj, Dhere, Neelkanth, Likamwa, Patrick, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation focuses on an uncooled Mid-Wave Infra-Red (MWIR) detector was developed by doping an n-type 4H-SiC with Ga using the laser doping technique. 4H-SiC is one of the polytypes of crystalline silicon carbide, a wide bandgap semiconductor. The dopant creates an energy level of 0.30 eV, which was confirmed by optical spectroscopy of the doped sample. This energy level corresponds to the MWIR wavelength of 4.21 um. The detection mechanism is based on the photoexcitation of electrons...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on an uncooled Mid-Wave Infra-Red (MWIR) detector was developed by doping an n-type 4H-SiC with Ga using the laser doping technique. 4H-SiC is one of the polytypes of crystalline silicon carbide, a wide bandgap semiconductor. The dopant creates an energy level of 0.30 eV, which was confirmed by optical spectroscopy of the doped sample. This energy level corresponds to the MWIR wavelength of 4.21 um. The detection mechanism is based on the photoexcitation of electrons by the photons of this wavelength absorbed in the semiconductor. This process modifies the electron density, which changes the refraction index and, therefore, the reflectance of the semiconductor is also changed. The change in the reflectance, which is the optical response of the detector, can be measured remotely with a laser beam such as a He-Ne laser. This capability of measuring the detector response remotely makes it a wireless optical detector. The variation of refraction index was calculated as a function of absorbed irradiance based on the reflectance data for the as-received and doped samples. A distinct change was observed for the refraction index of the doped sample, indicating that the detector is suitable for applications at 4.21 um wavelength. The Ga dopant energy level in the substrate was confirmed by optical absorption spectroscopy. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) of the doped samples revealed an enhancement in the solid solubility of Ga in the substrate when doping is carried out by increasing the number of laser scans. Higher dopant concentration increases the number of holes in the dopant energy level, enabling photoexcitation of more electrons from the valence band by the incident MWIR photons. The detector performance improves as the dopant concentration increases from 1.15(&)#215;1019 to 6.25(&)#215;10^20 cm^-3. The detectivity of the optical photodetector is found to be 1.07(&)#215;10^10 cm?Hz^1/2/W for the case of doping with 4 laser passes. The noise mechanisms in the probe laser, silicon carbide MWIR detector and laser power meter affect the performance of the detector such as the responsivity, noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) and detectivity. For the MWIR wavelength 4.21 and 4.63 um, the experimental detectivity of the optical photodetector of this study is found to be 1.07(&)#215;10^10 cm?Hz^1/2/W, while the theoretical value is 2.39(&)#215;10^10 cm?Hz^1/2/W. The values of NETD are found to be 404.03 and 15.48 mK based on experimental data for an MWIR radiation source of temperature 25(&)deg;C and theoretical calculation respectively.The doped SiC also has a capability of gas detection since gas emission spectra are in infrared range. Similarly, the sensor is based on the semiconductor optics principle, i.e., an energy gap is created in a semiconductor by doping it with an appropriate dopant to ensure that the energy gap matches with an emission spectral line of the gas of interest. Specifically four sensors have been fabricated by laser doping four quadrants of a 6H-SiC substrate with Ga, Al, Sc and P atoms to detect CO2, NO, CO and NO2 gases respectively. The photons, which are emitted by the gas, excite the electrons in the doped sample and consequently change the electron density in various energy states. This phenomenon affects the refraction index of the semiconductor and, therefore, the reflectivity of the semiconductor is altered by the gas. The optical response of this semiconductor sensor is the reflected power of a probe beam, which is a He-Ne laser beam in this study. The CO2, NO, CO and NO2 gases change the refraction indices of Ga-, Al-, Sc- and Al-doped 6H-SiC, respectively, more prominently than the other gases tested in this study. Hence these doped 6H-SiC samples can be used as CO2, NO, CO and NO2 gas sensors respectively.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005519, ucf:50310
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005519