Diego Barrera

Impurities and Electronic Property Variations of Natural MoS2 Crystal Surfaces

Room temperature X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS), high resolution Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (HR-RBS), Kelvin probe method, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) are employed to study the properties of a freshly exfoliated surface of geological MoS2 crystals. Our findings reveal that the semiconductor 2H-MoS2 exhibits both n- and p-type behavior, and the work function as measured by the Kelvin probe is found to vary from 4.4 to 5.3 eV. The presence of impurities in parts-per-million (ppm) and a surface defect density of up to 8% of the total area could explain the variation of the Fermi level position. High resolution RBS data also show a large variation in the MoSx composition (1.8 < x < 2.05) at the surface. Thus, the variation in the conductivity, the work function, and stoichiometry across small areas of MoS2 will have to be controlled during crystal growth in order to provide high quality uniform materials for future device fabrication.

Benzodifuran and benzodithiophene donor–acceptor polymers for bulk heterojunction solar cells

Four new donor–acceptor copolymers were synthesized by using benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene and benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]difuran as donors and thieno[3,4-b]thiophene was used as the acceptor building block. A systematic study was performed to determine the influence of the combinations of different heteroatoms in the donor–acceptor copolymer. In bulk heterojunction solar cells, the polymer with all furan building blocks in the electron donating units, poly[(4,8-bis(5-dodecyl-2-furanyl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]difuran-2-yl)-alt-(2-ethyl-1-(3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophen-2-yl)-1-hexanone)] (P4) (Mn = 66.7 kDa), achieved the highest power conversion efficiency of 5.23%.

Solution Synthesized p-Type Copper Gallium Oxide Nanoplates as Hole Transport Layer for Organic Photovoltaic Devices

p-Type metal-oxide hole transport layer (HTL) suppresses recombination at the anode and hence improves the organic photovoltaic (OPV) device performance. While NiOx has been shown to exhibit good HTL performance, very thin films (<10 nm) are needed due to its poor conductivity and high absorption. To overcome these limitations, we utilize CuGaO2, a p-type transparent conducting oxide, as HTL for OPV devices. Pure delafossite phase CuGaO2 nanoplates are synthesized via microwave-assisted hydrothermal reaction in a significantly shorter reaction time compared to via conventional heating. A thick CuGaO2 HTL (∼280 nm) in poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) devices achieves 3.2% power conversion efficiency, on par with devices made with standard HTL materials. Such a thick CuGaO2 HTL is more compatible with large-area and high-volume printing process.

Room-temperature fabrication of a delafossite CuCrO2 hole transport layer for perovskite solar cells

Delafossite oxides are promising hole transport layer (HTL) candidates for perovskite solar cells, due to their wide band gap, favorable energy band alignment relative to the perovskite absorber and simplicity of processing. In this paper, we investigate the properties of CuCrO2 (CCO) delafossite films using an integration of experimental and computational techniques. Phase-pure CCO films are deposited at room temperature by spin-casting suspensions of hydrothermally-synthesized nanoparticles, for use in a glass/ITO/CCO/CH3NH3PbI3/C60/BCP/Ag device structure. Although density functional theory (DFT) calculations predict an elevated hole effective mass along certain crystallographic directions, the nearly isotropic shape and small size of the CCO nanoparticles preserves transport properties within the films by randomizing particle orientation, preventing these unfavorable directions from dominating the film conductivity. Experimental measurements confirm that the CCO films display appropriate optical and electrical properties for use as an HTL, in good agreement with the DFT calculations. Solar cells made using these films exhibit stabilized power conversion efficiencies exceeding 14%, with only minor hysteresis in the current–voltage characteristics.

In Situ Chemical Oxidation of Ultrasmall MoOx Nanoparticles in Suspensions

Nanoparticle suspensions represent a promising route toward low cost, large area solution deposition of functional thin films for applications in energy conversion, flexible electronics, and sensors. However, parameters such size, stoichiometry, and electronic properties must be controlled to achieve best results for the target application. In this report, we demonstrate that such control can be achieved via in situ chemical oxidation of MoOx nanoparticles in suspensions. Starting from a microwave-synthesized suspension of ultrasmall (d~2 nm) MoOx nanoparticles in n-butanol, we added H2O2 at room temperature to chemically oxidize the nanoparticles. We systematically varied H2O2 concentration and reaction time and found that they significantly affected oxidation state and work function of MoOx nanoparticle films. In particular, we achieved a continuous tuning of MoOx work function from 4.4 to 5.0 eV, corresponding to oxidation of as-synthesized MoOx nanoparticle (20% Mo6

Solution synthesis of few-layer 2H MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = S, Se)

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit a wide range of properties depending on the chemistry of the transition metal element and the chalcogen, making them promising candidates for electronic applications. Current TMD thin films are either derived from bulk minerals, hence limited by the impurities, defects, and the availability of raw materials, or deposited using high vacuum or high reaction temperature processes. Here, we describe a versatile method to directly synthesize few-layer 2H MoS2, MoSe2, WS2, and WSe2 flakes from thermolysis of organometallic precursors in the presence of a chalcogen element using microwave-assisted heating. We study how the concentration of a reducing agent, 1,2-hexadecanediol, affects the chemical composition of TMDs using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The crystalline phase of these materials is determined as trigonal prismatic (2H) using Raman spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Both STEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicate that these flakes are a few layers thick (∼2 nm) with a relatively large lateral size (∼2 μm).

Tunable Electrical and Optical Properties of Nickel Oxide (NiOx) Thin Films for Fully Transparent NiOx-Ga2O3 p-n Junction Diodes

One of the major limitations of oxide semiconductors technology is the lack of proper p-type materials to enable devices such as pn junctions, light-emitting diodes, and photodetectors. This limitation has resulted in an increased research focus on these materials. In this work, p-type NiO x thin films with tunable optical and electrical properties as well as its dependence with oxygen pressure during pulsed laser deposition are demonstrated. The control of NiO x films resistivity ranged from ∼109 to ∼102 Ω cm, showing a p-type behavior with Eg tuning from 3.4 to 3.9 eV. Chemical composition and the resulting band diagrams are also discussed. The all-oxide NiO x-Ga2O3 pn junction showed very low leakage current, an ideality factor of ∼2, 105 on/off ratio, and 0.6 V built-in potential. Its J- V temperature dependence is also analyzed. C- V measurements demonstrate diodes with a carrier concentration of 1015 cm-3 for the Ga2O3 layer, which is fully depleted. These results show a stable, promising diode, attractive for future photoelectronic devices.