Electrophoretic deposited TiO_2 pigment-based back reflectors for thin film solar cells

Bills, Braden; Morris, Nathan A.; Dubey, Mukul; Wang, Qi; Fan, Qi Hua

doi:10.1364/oe.23.000a71

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Anatase TiO 2 shows the best photocatalytic activity because of its valence band characteristics, conduction, and crystal structure [ 26 ]. Wide interest in TiO 2 as a semiconductor [ 27 ] can be explained by its promising performance as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for energy and environmental applications, including the photodegradation of organic pollutants for air and water purification [ 28 ], the photo-assisted removal of toxic heavy metals [ 29 ], the production of solar fuels [ 30 ], and the development of self-cleaning surfaces and reflectors [ 31 ]. Recently, TiO 2 aerogels have also been investigated as an electron transport layer in perovskite-based solar cells [ 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Precursor Nature and Sol-Gel Synthesis Conditions on TiO2 Aerogel’s Structure

Donėlienė¹,

Fataraitė‐Urbonienė

Rudzikas³

et al. 2021

Molecules

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The aim of this investigation was to synthesize high porosity TiO2 aerogel by applying sol-gel and subcritical drying methods and to identify the influence of reagent’s nature and synthesis conditions on their structural and optical properties. Methods of XRD, FT-IR, BET, STA, SEM, and UV-vis were applied to investigate and compare the properties of synthesized TiO2 aerogels and to determine the most effective synthesis route. The structural parameters of the synthesized materials can be varied by changing the precursor type (titanium (IV), isopropoxide (TIP), or tetrabutylorthotitanate (TBOT)) and the nature of the solvent used for additional exchange (n-hexane (nH), cyclohexane (CH), or diethyl ether (DE)). All of the subcritical dried samples show the amorphous structure, which tends to crystallize into the anatase phase after calcination. The number of micro and mesopores and the specific surface area depends on the synthesis conditions. The pores with the highest diameter have been found for additionally nH exchanged and aged aerogel synthesized from precursor TIP. Despite the imperfections in the structure, the produced aerogels show structural and optical properties typical of the TiO2 structures mentioned in the literature.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Precursor Nature and Sol-Gel Synthesis Conditions on TiO2 Aerogel’s Structure

Donėlienė¹,

Fataraitė‐Urbonienė

Rudzikas³

et al. 2021

Molecules

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“…To fabricate reflective ECD, white reflector needs to be placed on the bottom electrode to reflect the ambient light passing through the transparent ECD. Among all the potential white reflector materials, TiO 2 is the most suitable candidate due to its numerous advantages such as low cost, nontoxic, white color, high reflectance, and chemical stability . To make a TiO 2 layer as a white reflector, TiO 2 solution containing TiO 2 powder and organic components (polyethylene glycol and Triton X‐100) was drop cast onto indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate followed by annealing at 450 °C after predrying at room temperature (Detail fabrication method is described in the Experimental Section).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among all the potential white reflector materials, TiO 2 is the most suitable candidate due to its numerous advantages such as low cost, nontoxic, white color, high reflectance, and chemical stability. [39,40] To make a TiO 2 layer as a white reflector, TiO 2 solution containing TiO 2 powder and organic components (polyethylene glycol and Triton X-100) was drop cast onto indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate followed by annealing at 450 °C after predrying at room temperature (Detail fabrication method is described in the Experimental Section). Particularly, polyethylene glycol and Triton X-100 were previously used to produce the TiO 2 layer in dye-sensitized solar cell research.…”

Section: Reflective Ecdmentioning

confidence: 99%

High‐Performance Reflective Electrochromic Device by Integrating White Reflector and High Optical Density Electrochromic System

Park

Kim

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Inter

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white color. To improve these optical characteristics, a wide aperture ratio and high reflection with excellent light blocking approach are highly essential.Previously, several approaches (electrophoretic, electrowetting, cholesteric liquid crystal, and electrochromic device (ECD)) have been reported as the most possible solution for reflective display applications. In particular, electrophoretic [13][14][15] and electrowetting [16][17][18] can control the intensity of reflected light by changing an area of the absorber inside the pixel. Despite paper-level readability and fast response time, their driving mechanism decreases the ACR owing to less amount of available light by limited aperture ratio. On the other hand, cholesteric liquid crystal [19][20][21] and ECD [22][23][24] can control the intensity of light via mana ging the absorbance according to the state of the transparent molecules in the complete pixel area. Although cholesteric liquid crystal has merits in terms of realizing full color and good optical control ability, it utilizes polarizer that can cause substantial optical loss. [25] Besides, only filtered light can pass through the polarizer and that consequently leads to a poor reflectivity in the white state. In contrast, ECD can easily control the reflection of light by altering the absorbance property according to the redox state of the electrochromic (EC) dye. Moreover, ECD does not require the use of a polarizer, thus, theoretically almost complete ambient light can be utilized without any optical loss. This device also possesses a high aperture ratio, high transmittance, and excellent light shutter effect. Therefore, ECD is the most favorable candidate for reflective display applications.In this paper, we demonstrate an efficient reflective ECD with a very high ACR and excellent driving stability. The fabricated reflective ECD by incorporating micro-porous titanium dioxide (TiO 2 )-based white reflector film and well-optimized EC composition revealed not only a deep black state (1.7 V) and white state (0.0 V) due to the good optical density of the EC dye but also excellent reflectivity of about 58.5% at 550 nm. Prior to the fabrication of reflective ECD, EC composition was optimized by selecting suitable proton donor, solvent, and supporting polymer to attain good coloration property, low driving voltage, and high optical density with the faster response time.This paper reports an efficient reflective electrochromic device (ECD) by integrating a highly reflective micro-porous titanium dioxide-based white reflector film and an optimized transparent to black convertible electrochromic (EC) system. This reflective ECD can reflect almost 58.5% of light in the white state and 4.7% in the dark black state at 550 nm. Similarly, it also exhibits a very high ambient contrast ratio of 38:1 under office ambient light condition and good driving stability of about 83% in the white state (0 V) and 98% in the black state (1.7 V) after 10 000 driving cycles. In addition, the EC system is optimized by select...

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“…Bills et al [58] use an electrophoretic deposition method (EPD) to deposit a layer of binder free TiO 2 on a thin-film a-Si:H solar cells. The J sc of the cell can be improved by 12% with DR, 5% with Al and 10% with Ag as back reflector respectively.…”

Section: Refmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffuse reflectors for improving light management in solar cells: a review and outlook

Barugkin

Beck

Catchpole

2016

J. Opt.

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Pigment based diffuse reflectors (DRs) have several advantages over metal reflectors such as good stability, high reflectivity, and low parasitic absorption. As such, DRs have the potential to be applied on high efficiency silicon solar cells and further increase the power conversion efficiency. In this paper, we perform a thorough review on the notable achievements to date of DRs’ application for photovoltaics. We outline unique attributes of these technologies and discuss the theoretical and laboratory development working towards overcoming the challenges of transferring to high efficiency silicon solar cells. In order to understand the potential of DRs for high efficiency silicon solar cells, we provide a qualitative analysis of the impact of front reflection, rear absorption and the angular distribution on the useful light absorption in silicon wafers. By including this discussion, we provide an outlook for the application of DR in reaching maximum photo-current for high efficiency silicon solar cells.

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Electrophoretic deposited TiO_2 pigment-based back reflectors for thin film solar cells

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

Effect of Precursor Nature and Sol-Gel Synthesis Conditions on TiO2 Aerogel’s Structure

Effect of Precursor Nature and Sol-Gel Synthesis Conditions on TiO2 Aerogel’s Structure

High‐Performance Reflective Electrochromic Device by Integrating White Reflector and High Optical Density Electrochromic System

Diffuse reflectors for improving light management in solar cells: a review and outlook

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