Hwee Leng Seng

Improving the Efficiency of Hematite Nanorods for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by Doping with Manganese

Here, we report a significant improvement of the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of hematite (α-Fe2O3) to oxidize water by doping with manganese. Hematite nanorods were grown on a fluorine-treated tin oxide (FTO) substrate by a hydrothermal method in the presence on Mn. Systematic physical analyses were performed to investigate the presence of Mn in the samples. Fe2O3 nanorods with 5 mol % Mn treatment showed a photocurrent density of 1.6 mA cm(-2) (75% higher than that of pristine Fe2O3) at 1.23 V versus RHE and a plateau photocurrent density of 3.2 mA cm(-2) at 1.8 V versus RHE in a 1 M NaOH electrolyte solution (pH 13.6). We attribute the increase in the photocurrent density, and thus in the oxygen evolving capacity, to the increased donor density resulting from Mn doping of the Fe2O3 nanorods, as confirmed by Mott-Schottky measurement, as well as the suppression of electron-hole recombination and enhancement in hole transport, as detected by chronoamperometry measurements.

Impact of Al Passivation and Cosputter on the Structural Property of β-FeSi2 for Al-Doped β-FeSi2/n-Si(100) Based Solar Cells Application

The aluminum (Al) doped polycrystalline p-type β-phase iron disilicide (p-β-FeSi2) is grown by thermal diffusion of Al from Al-passivated n-type Si(100) surface into FeSi2 during crystallization of amorphous FeSi2 to form a p-type β-FeSi2/n-Si(100) heterostructure solar cell. The structural and photovoltaic properties of p-type β-FeSi2/n-type c-Si structures is then investigated in detail by using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy analysis, and electrical characterization. The results are compared with Al-doped p-β-FeSi2 prepared by using cosputtering of Al and FeSi2 layers on Al-passivated n-Si(100) substrates. A significant improvement in the maximum open-circuit voltage (Voc) from 120 to 320 mV is achieved upon the introduction of Al doping through cosputtering of Al and amorphous FeSi2 layer. The improvement in Voc is attributed to better structural quality of Al-doped FeSi2 film through Al doping and to the formation of high quality crystalline interface between Al-doped β-FeSi2 and n-type c-Si. The effects of Al-out diffusion on the performance of heterostructure solar cells have been investigated and discussed in detail.

The role of ions and reaction sites for electrochemical reversible charge cycling in mesoporous nickel hydroxides

Layered nickel hydroxide thin films with mesoporous structure were prepared on ITO substrates by a facile chemical bath deposition method. The electrochemical properties of the nickel hydroxide/oxyhydroxide films were investigated in both potassium hydroxide and lithium perchlorate in propylene carbonate electrolytes. We show that the high reversible charge cycling capability of the material is enabled by the redox reaction involving hydroxyl ions, especially in the oxidative cycle. Li ion reversible charge cycling requires available reaction or adsorption sites that can be provided by sub-stoichiometry or defective films. Raising the defect concentration, the cyclic reversibility is shown to increase by ∼5 times. The effects of intercalated water in the interlayers are also discussed. We show that the presence of water in the interlayers can lead to a passivating reaction during the charge cycling and also cause optical efficiency losses through unwanted charge trapping.

Impact of molybdenum out diffusion and interface quality on the performance of sputter grown CZTS based solar cells

We have investigated the impact of Cu2ZnSnS4-Molybdenum (Mo) interface quality on the performance of sputter-grown Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) solar cell. Thin film CZTS was deposited by sputter deposition technique using stoichiometry quaternary CZTS target. Formation of molybdenum sulphide (MoSx) interfacial layer is observed in sputter grown CZTS films after sulphurization. Thickness of MoSx layer is found ~142u2009nm when CZTS layer (550u2009nm thick) is sulphurized at 600u2009°C. Thickness of MoSx layer significantly increased to ~240u2009nm in case of thicker CZTS layer (650u2009nm) under similar sulphurization condition. We also observe that high temperature (600u2009°C) annealing suppress the elemental impurities (Cu, Zn, Sn) at interfacial layer. The amount of out-diffused Mo significantly varies with the change in sulphurization temperature. The out-diffused Mo into CZTS layer and reconstructed interfacial layer remarkably decreases series resistance and increases shunt resistance of the solar cell. The overall efficiency of the solar cell is improved by nearly five times when 600u2009°C sulphurized CZTS layer is applied in place of 500u2009°C sulphurized layer. Molybdenum and sulphur diffusion reconstruct the interface layer during heat treatment and play the major role in charge carrier dynamics of a photovoltaic device.

Efficient polymer solar cells enabled by low temperature processed ternary metal oxide as electron transport interlayer with large stoichiometry window.

Highly efficient organic photovoltaic cells are demonstrated by incorporating low temperature solution processed indium zinc oxide (IZO) as cathode interlayers. The IZOs are synthesized using a combustion synthesis method, which enables low temperature processes (150-250 °C). We investigated the IZO films with different electron mobilities (1.4×10(-3) to 0.23 cm2/(V·s)), hydroxide-oxide content (38% to 47%), and surface roughness (0.19-5.16 nm) by modulating the ternary metal oxide stoichiometry. The photovoltaic performance was found to be relatively insensitive to the composition ratio of In:Zn over the range of 0.8:0.2 to 0.5:0.5 despite the differences in their electrical and surface properties, achieving high power conversion efficiencies of 6.61%-7.04%. Changes in composition ratio of IZO do not lead to obvious differences in energy levels, diode parameters and morphology of the photoactive layer, as revealed by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), dark current analysis and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) measurements, correlating well with the large IZO stoichiometry window that enables efficient photovoltaic devices. Our results demonstrate the robustness of this ETL system and provide a convenient approach to realize a wide range of multicomponent oxides and compatible with processing on flexible plastic substrates.

Characterization of epitaxial GaAs MOS capacitors using atomic layer-deposited TiO2/Al2O3 gate stack: study of Ge auto-doping and p-type Zn doping

Electrical and physical properties of a metal-oxide-semiconductor [MOS] structure using atomic layer-deposited high-k dielectrics (TiO2/Al2O3) and epitaxial GaAs [epi-GaAs] grown on Ge(100) substrates have been investigated. The epi-GaAs, either undoped or Zn-doped, was grown using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method at 620°C to 650°C. The diffusion of Ge atoms into epi-GaAs resulted in auto-doping, and therefore, an n-MOS behavior was observed for undoped and Zn-doped epi-GaAs with the doping concentration up to approximately 1017 cm-3. This is attributed to the diffusion of a significant amount of Ge atoms from the Ge substrate as confirmed by the simulation using SILVACO software and also from the secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses. The Zn-doped epi-GaAs with a doping concentration of approximately 1018 cm-3 converts the epi-GaAs layer into p-type since the Zn doping is relatively higher than the out-diffused Ge concentration. The capacitance-voltage characteristics show similar frequency dispersion and leakage current for n-type and p-type epi-GaAs layers with very low hysteresis voltage (approximately 10 mV).PACS: 81.15.Gh.