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We demonstrate organic residue free, bandgap-graded Cu 2 Zn(Sn 1−x Ge x )S 4 (CZTGeS) thin-film solar cells based on metal chalcogenide complex (MCC) ligand capped nanocrystals (NCs). The bandgap of the CZTGeS films is tuned by varying the amount of Sn 2 S 6 4− MCC ligand absorbed on the surface of the Cu 2 ZnGeS 4 (CZGeS) NCs, without an undesirable postselenization process. Using CZGeS NCs inks with three different Sn/(Ge+Sn) ratios, bandgap-graded CZTGeS thin films are obtained via multicoating and annealing procedures. Compositional and spectroscopic analyses along the film thickness confirm that the bandgraded CZTGeS absorber layer, with a gradually increasing bandgap from the back contact to the p−n junction, is successfully accomplished. Compared with an ungraded band structured CZTGeS cell, this normal grading structure facilitates both higher short circuit current and open-circuit voltage, facilitating a power conversion efficiency of 6.3%.

No abstract

Solution processing of earth-abundant Cu2ZnSn(S1-x,Sex)4 (CZTSSe) absorber materials is an attractive research area in the economical and large-scale deployment of photovoltaics. Here, a band-gap-graded CZTSSe thin-film solar cell with 7.1% efficiency was developed using non-toxic solvent-based ink without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, highly toxic solvents, or organic additives. Despite the high series resistance due to the presence of a thick Mo(S,Se)x layer and Zn(S,Se) aggregates, a high short-circuit current density (JSC) was generated. In addition, there was no significant difference in open circuit voltages (VOC) between CZTS (0.517 V) and CZTSSe (0.505–0.479 V) cells, despite a significant band gap change from 1.51 eV to 1.24 eV. The high JSC and less loss of VOC are attributed to the effect of band gap grading induced by Se grading in the CZTSSe absorber layer. Our environmentally benign ink approach will enable the realization of low-cost, large-area, high-efficiency thin-film solar cells.

We propose a design for a highly sensitive biosensor based on nanostructured anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) substrates. A gold-deposited AAO substrate exhibits both optical interference and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). In our sensor, application of these disparate optical properties overcomes problems of limited sensitivity, selectivity, and dynamic range seen in similar biosensors. We fabricated uniform periodic nanopore lattice AAO templates by two-step anodizing and assessed their suitability for application in biosensors by characterizing the change in optical response on addition of biomolecules to the AAO template. To determine the suitability of such structures for biosensing applications, we immobilized a layer of C-reactive protein (CRP) antibody on a gold coating atop an AAO template. We then applied a CRP antigen (Ag) atop the immobilized antibody (Ab) layer. The shift in reflectance is interpreted as being caused by the change in refractive index with membrane thickness. Our results confirm that our proposed AAO-based biosensor is highly selective toward detection of CRP antigen, and can measure a change in CRP antigen concentration of 1 fg/ml. This method can provide a simple, fast, and sensitive analysis for protein detection in real-time.