Routes to Nanostructured Inorganic Materials with Potential for Solar Energy Applications

Ramasamy, Karthik; Malik, Mohammad Azad; Revaprasadu, Neerish; O’Brien, Paul

doi:10.1021/cm401366q

Cited by 129 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 234 publications

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“…Numerous techniques have been used to grow CdS and Cd 1-x Zn x S thin films including dip coating [16], electrodeposition [17], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [18], aerosol-assisted CVD (AA-CVD) [19][20][21], chemical bath deposition (CBD) [2,8,22,23], spray pyrolysis [24,25], thermal evaporation [26], successive ionic layer and reaction (SILAR) [27], thermolysis [28,29], electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy (ECALE) [11], sol-gel spin coating, [30,31] doctor's blade, [32] and others [14,21,33,34]. Spin coating (SC) is a particularly useful method for the deposition of thin films [35,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deposition of thin films of cadmium zinc sulfide Cd1−x Zn x S at 250 °C from spin-coated xanthato complexes: a potential route to window layers for photovoltaic cells

2017

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Thin films of Cd 1-x Zn x S (CZS) were prepared by a novel spin coating/melt method from cadmium ethylxanthato [Cd(C 2 H 5 OCS 2 ) 2 ] and zinc ethylxanthato [Zn(C 2 H 5 OCS 2 ) 2 ] in x ratios of 0-0.15 and of 1. A solution of the precursor(s) in THF was spin coated onto a glass substrate and then heated at 250°C for 1 h under N 2 . The thickness of the film formed can be controlled by varying the solution composition and/or the spin rate of the coating. A total metal precursor solution concentration of 50 mM was used in all cases. The films were characterized by p-XRD, SEM, EDX, ICP-AES, XPS, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and resistivity measurements. The band gaps of the films were between 2.35-2.58 and 3.75 eV (0 B x B 0.15 and at x = 1). The resistivity of Cd 1-x Zn x S films was found to vary linearly with zinc contents, and the properties of the films suggest potential application to photovoltaics as window layers. This work is the first study to demonstrate Cd 1-x Zn x S thin films by a spin coating/melt method from xanthato precursors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deposition of thin films of cadmium zinc sulfide Cd1−x Zn x S at 250 °C from spin-coated xanthato complexes: a potential route to window layers for photovoltaic cells

2017

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“…In many cases, the uses of SSPs have granted control of both its physical and optical properties that dualsource precursors cannot [9][10][11]. In the last 20 years [12][13][14][15][16][17][18], many SSPs comprised metal (N,N-dialkyldithiocarbamates) [M(S 2 CNR 2 ) n ] have been used to synthesize metal sulfide nanocrystals. More recently, complexes containing (O-alkyl)xanthate ( -S 2 COAk) ligands have been viewed as a potentially useful class of SSPs for the production of metal sulfide nanomaterials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A facile method for the production of SnS thin films from melt reactions

et al. 2016

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Tin(II)O-ethylxanthate [Sn(S 2 COEt) 2 ] was prepared and used as a single-source precursor for the deposition of SnS thin films by a melt method. Polycrystalline, (111)-orientated, orthorhombic SnS films with controllable elemental stoichiometries (of between Sn 1.3 S and SnS) were reliably produced by selecting heating temperatures between 200 and 400°C. The direct optical band gaps of the SnS films ranged from 1.26 to 1.88 eV and were strongly influenced by its Sn/S ratio. The precursor [Sn(S 2 COEt) 2 ] was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The as-prepared SnS films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

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“…[5][6][7][8] These characteristics, together with its suitable band gap (2.2 eV), make CuS potentially ideal as low-cost light-harvesting and charge-transport materials in photovoltaics and photocatalysis. 7,[9][10][11] The successful utilization of CuS nanocrystals in photocatalysis and photovoltaic devices largely depends on the trapping and relaxation dynamics of charge carriers in CuS nanocrystals. Due to the larger amount of surface states in nanocrystals compared to the bulk materials, the electrons and holes in nanocrystals can be readily trapped at those surface states after photoexcitation, which typically results into a decreased device performance.…”

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Ultrafast Hole Trapping and Relaxation Dynamics in p-Type CuS Nanodisks

Ludwig

Pattengale

et al. 2015

J. Phys. Chem. Lett.

117

105

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CuS nanocrystals are potential materials for developing low-cost solar energy conversion devices. Understanding the underlying dynamics of photoinduced carriers in CuS nanocrystals is essential to improve their performance in these devices. In this work, we investigated the photoinduced hole dynamics in CuS nanodisks (NDs) using the combination of transient optical (OTA) and X-ray (XTA) absorption spectroscopy. OTA results show that the broad transient absorption in the visible region is attributed to the photoinduced hot and trapped holes. The hole trapping process occurs on a subpicosecond time scale, followed by carrier recombination (∼100 ps). The nature of the hole trapping sites, revealed by XTA, is characteristic of S or organic ligands on the surface of CuS NDs. These results not only suggest the possibility to control the hole dynamics by tuning the surface chemistry of CuS but also represent NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; this is the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in the citation at the bottom of the page. Letters, Vol 6, No. 14 (2015): pg. 2671-2675. DOI. This article is © American Chemical Society and permission has been granted for this version to appear in e-Publications@Marquette. American Chemical Society does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from American Chemical Society. Journal of Physical Chemistry3 the first time observation of hole dynamics in semiconductor nanocrystals using XTA.Keywords: CuS nanodisks; energy conversion; optical transient absorption spectroscopy; X-ray transient absorption spectroscopyCopper sulfides (Cu2-xS), well-known p-type semiconductors due to the stoichiometric deficiency of copper in the lattice, have attracted considerable attention because of their broad applications in diverse fields including photovoltaics, photocatalysis, batteries, chemical sensing, and electronics. [1][2][3][4] There are several stable Cu2-xS phases with the stoichiometric factor x ranging between 0 and 1, from the copperrich chalcocite (Cu2S) to the copper-deficient composition (CuS). Among them, the hexagonal covellite (CuS) is of particular interest due to its significant density of free carriers (holes) in the valence band accounting for its unique metallic conductivity and the strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in NIR.5-8 These characteristics, together with its suitable band gap (2.2 eV), make CuS potentially ideal as low-cost light-harvesting and charge-transport materials in photovoltaics and photocatalysis. 7,[9][10][11] The successful utilization of CuS nanocrystals in photocatalysis and photovoltaic devices largely depends on the trapping and relaxation dynamics of charge carriers in CuS nanocrystals. Due to the larger amount of surface states in nanocrystals compared to the bulk materials, the electrons and holes in nanocrystals can be readily trapped at those surface states after photoexcitation, whic...

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Routes to Nanostructured Inorganic Materials with Potential for Solar Energy Applications

Cited by 129 publications

References 234 publications

The deposition of thin films of cadmium zinc sulfide Cd1−x Zn x S at 250 °C from spin-coated xanthato complexes: a potential route to window layers for photovoltaic cells

The deposition of thin films of cadmium zinc sulfide Cd1−x Zn x S at 250 °C from spin-coated xanthato complexes: a potential route to window layers for photovoltaic cells

A facile method for the production of SnS thin films from melt reactions

Ultrafast Hole Trapping and Relaxation Dynamics in p-Type CuS Nanodisks

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