Electrophoretic Deposition of CuIn_1–xGa_xSe₂ Thin Films Using Solvothermal Synthesized Nanoparticles for Solar Cell Application

Abstract

CuIn1–x Ga x Se2 (CIGS) thin films are successfully prepared by convenient electrophoretic deposition, using colloidal nanoparticles. This is the first report which focuses on the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of presynthesized CIGS nanoparticles directly from their colloid for solar cell application. In this research, CIGS nanoparticles are first synthesized via solvothermal process and then dispersed in a media containing a mixture of ethanol as the solvent and triethylenetetramine as the additive to be used for the film deposition via the electrophoretic method. By simple adjustment of the electrophoretic parameters, including applied voltage, pH, deposition time, and composition of nanoparticles, CIGS thin films with controlled thickness and optoelectronic properties can be fabricated. The highest photovoltaic efficiency of 5.57% is obtained in the CuIn0.75Ga0.25Se2 sample. It is believed that this fabrication approach may open up a new gate to reduce the production cost of a highly demanding CIGS absorber layer used in thin film solar cells.

Direct growth of hexagonal boron nitride/graphene heterostructures on cobalt foil substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

“…A strong peak at 203 nm and a weak peak at 270 nm are observed in the absorption spectrum, which are assigned to the optical band gap of h-BN and p-plasmon absorption of graphene, respectively. 15,16 The optical band gap (E g ) value was extracted using the Tauc equation for a direct band gap semiconductor, i.e., a ¼ C Â (E-E g ) 1/2 /E, 5,34 where a is the absorption coefficient, E is the incident photon energy, and C is the proportionality constant. As shown in Fig.…”

Performance Study on Microchannel Coated Catalytic Plate Reactor Using Electrophoresis Technique for Medium Temperature Shift (MTS) Reaction

“…The correlation between current density ( I ) and electric field ( E ) can be expressed as follows: where σ is conductivity. Therefore, as the voltage and increment in electric field strength increase, the current density increases . The conductivity of the suspension decreases during the time of deposition, because of the formation of the catalyst layer, which causes a decrease in the concentration of the suspension.…”

“…Therefore, as the voltage and increment in electric field strength increase, the current density increases. 41 The conductivity of the suspension decreases during the time of deposition, because of the formation of the catalyst layer, which causes a decrease in the concentration of the suspension. Consequently, the current density would be reduced with the time of deposition.…”

Morphology dependent photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructures-A short review

“…A key influences or changes in photocatalytic efficiency were the addition of large surface energy and optical absorption [19]. Morphology variation ZnO particles caused aqueous blue methylene solution photocatalytic degradation.…”

“…The Mott-Schottky map, band structure, and active species trapping experiments have also revealed photocatalytic composites of the mechanism. The advanced the separation effectiveness of ZnO has more rapidly electron migration effectiveness, the higher photocatalytic activity and photogenerated electron-hole pairs [19].…”