High temperature thermoelectric properties of p-type skutterudites BaxYbyCo4-zFezSb12 J. Appl. Phys. 112, 083718 (2012) Significantly enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit through Cu, Sb co-substitutions for Te in Ga2Te3 Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 081908 (2012) Thermoelectric properties and Kondo behavior in indium incorporated p-type Ce0.9Fe3.5Ni0.5Sb12 skutterudites J. Appl. Phys. 112, 033710 (2012) Enhancement in the figure of merit of p-type Bi100−xSbx alloys through multiple valence-band doping

No abstract

We present our recent study of SnS particles in the backdrop of significant developments that have taken place so far for which a review of the present status of this material, its structural, optical, electronic characteristics, and device performance is described. To further improve the performance of low-cost chalcogenide-based solar cells, we propose to employ a thirdgeneration solar cells fabrication scheme, where an intermediate bandgap layer can be incorporated in a CIS solar cell to increase its current generation and efficiency. For this purpose SnS quantum dots (QD) embedded indium sulfide (In 2 S 3 ) layer is developed. We address how to cap the QD surface for defect passivation and protection from ambient and the doping nature of the particles.

In this work the impact of hydrogenation from hydrogen-rich amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx:H) on dislocations and grain boundaries in multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells is presented. Layers are deposited by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Electrical bulk passivation is provided during thermal annealing, in which hydrogen diffuses from a-SiNx:H. The passivation effect is discussed in terms of recombination centers and non-recombinative charge traps reduction as well as in terms of local short circuit current improvement in specially manufactured solar cells.

Peak Force Atomic Force Microscope is a new technique to characterize fragile materials such as nanoparticles with high accuracy with only one measurement. Unlike the tapping mode AFM, Peak Force AFM operates at a frequency below the resonant frequency of the cantilever. This allows for a direct control of the forces and avoids lateral forces that may damage the sample as in contact mode AFM. Furthermore, the performance characteristics of Peak Force AFM are suitable to work also in Tunneling AFM (TUNA) mode, enabling the study of the electrical properties of materials.In this work SnS nanoparticles capped with tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) have been characterized. By means of Peak Force AFM it is possible to measure simultaneously topography and current maps of nanoparticles, yielding information about the shape, size and the conductivity of even a single nanoparticle. The topography map clearly showed single nanoparticles with a size less than 5 nm and spherical shape. In the conductivity map it is possible to discern the same nanoparticles, the correlation with the topography map is evident. This confirms the conduction (though not calibrated) of SnS nanoparticles. This type of measurements has been repeated many times in order to check the reproducibility of this technique. Moreover, the same nanoparticles have been measured also by Torsional Resonant TUNA AFM in order to compare it with Peak Force AFM. By means of TR-TUNA it was possible to measure the topography of SnS nanoparticles capped with TOPO but not the current. Besides, the resolution of the topography map acquired by TR-TUNA AFM is inferior to Peak Force AFM. From this comparison it has been found that the conductivity of nanoparticles, even if they are capped with TOPO, can be measured by Peak Force AFM, a result that thus far has been difficult to achieve by other types of AFM. of the Czech Republic and infractructure project LNSM financed by Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic 1 2