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Kern S, Yi G, Büttner P, Scheler F, Tran MH, Korenko S, Dehm KE, Kundrata I, Zahl A, Albrecht S, Bachmann J, Crisp RW. Monolithic Two-Terminal Tandem Solar Cells Using Sb 2S 3 and Solution-Processed PbS Quantum Dots Achieving an Open-Circuit Potential beyond 1.1 V. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:13903-13913. [PMID: 38459939 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c16154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2024]
Abstract
Multijunction solar cells have the prospect of a greater theoretical efficiency limit than single-junction solar cells by minimizing the transmissive and thermalization losses a single absorber material has. In solar cell applications, Sb2S3 is considered an attractive absorber due to its elemental abundance, stability, and high absorption coefficient in the visible range of the solar spectrum, yet with a band gap of 1.7 eV, it is transmissive for near-IR and IR photons. Using it as the top cell (the cell where light is first incident) in a two-terminal tandem architecture in combination with a bottom cell (the cell where light arrives second) of PbS quantum dots (QDs), which have an adjustable band gap suitable for absorbing longer wavelengths, is a promising approach to harvest the solar spectrum more effectively. In this work, these two subcells are monolithically fabricated and connected in series by a poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)-ZnO tunnel junction as the recombination layer. We explore the surface morphology of ZnO QD films with different spin-coating conditions, which serve as the PbS QD cell's electron transport material. Furthermore, we examine the differences in photogenerated current upon varying the PbS QD absorber layer thickness and the electrical and optical characteristics of the tandem with respect to the stand-alone reference cells. This tandem architecture demonstrates an extended spectral response into the IR with an open-circuit potential exceeding 1.1 V and a power conversion efficiency of 5.6%, which is greater than that of each single-junction cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Selina Kern
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Gyusang Yi
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Pascal Büttner
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Florian Scheler
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
- Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin 12489, Germany
| | - Minh-Hoa Tran
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Sofia Korenko
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Katharina E Dehm
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Ivan Kundrata
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Achim Zahl
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Steve Albrecht
- Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin 12489, Germany
| | - Julien Bachmann
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
| | - Ryan W Crisp
- Chemistry of Thin Film Materials, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Cauerstr. 3, Erlangen 91058, Germany
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du Fossé I, Lal S, Hossaini AN, Infante I, Houtepen AJ. Effect of Ligands and Solvents on the Stability of Electron Charged CdSe Colloidal Quantum Dots. THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. C, NANOMATERIALS AND INTERFACES 2021; 125:23968-23975. [PMID: 34765075 PMCID: PMC8573769 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c07464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Many colloidal quantum dot (QD)-based devices involve charging of the QD, either via intentional electronic doping or via electrical charge injection or photoexcitation. Previous research has shown that this charging can give rise to undesirable electrochemical surface reactions, leading to the formation of localized in-gap states. However, little is known about the factors that influence the stability of charged QDs against surface oxidation or reduction. Here, we use density functional theory to investigate the effect of various ligands and solvents on the reduction of surface Cd in negatively charged CdSe QDs. We find that X-type ligands can lead to significant shifts in the energy of the band edges but that the in-gap state related to reduced surface Cd is shifted in the same direction. As a result, shifting the band edges to higher energies does not necessarily lead to less stable electron charging. However, subtle changes in the local electrostatic environment lead to a clear correlation between the position of the in-gap state in the bandgap and the energy gained upon surface reduction. Binding ligands directly to the Cd sites most prone to reduction was found to greatly enhance the stability of the electron charged QDs. We find that ligands bind much more weakly after reduction of the Cd site, leading to a loss in binding energy that makes charge localization no longer energetically favorable. Lastly, we show that increasing the polarity of the solvent also increases the stability of QDs charged with electrons. These results highlight the complexity of surface reduction reactions in QDs and provide valuable strategies for improving the stability of charged QDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indy du Fossé
- Optoelectronic
Materials Section, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Snigdha Lal
- Optoelectronic
Materials Section, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Aydin Najl Hossaini
- Optoelectronic
Materials Section, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Ivan Infante
- Department
of Nanochemistry, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Arjan J. Houtepen
- Optoelectronic
Materials Section, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
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Yang H, Park H, Kim B, Park C, Jeong S, Chae WS, Kim W, Jeong M, Ahn TK, Shin H. Unusual Hole Transfer Dynamics of the NiO Layer in Methylammonium Lead Tri-iodide Absorber Solar Cells. J Phys Chem Lett 2021; 12:2770-2779. [PMID: 33709718 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c00335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Nickel oxides (NiO) as hole transport layers (HTLs) in inverted-type perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been widely studied mainly because of their high stability under illumination. Increases in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) with NiO HTLs have been presented in numerous reports, although the photoluminescence (PL) quenching behavior does not coincide with the PCE increase. The dynamics of the charge carrier transport between the NiO HTLs and the organic-inorganic halide perovskite absorbers is not clearly understood yet and quite unusual, in contrast to organic/polymerics HTLs. We deposited NiO HTLs with precisely controlled thicknesses by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and studied their photovoltaic performances and hole transfer characteristics. Ground state bleaching (GSB) recovery was observed by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS), which suggested that backward hole injection occurred between the perovskites and NiO HTLs, so that the uncommon PL behaviors can be clearly explained. Backward hole injection from the NiO HTL to the perovskite absorber originated from their similar valence band (VB) energy positions. The thickness increase of the NiO HTLs induced VB sharing, which caused a red-shift of the photoinduced hole absorption spectrum in near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond TAS and a decrease in the PL intensity. Our studies on inorganic metal oxide transport layers, NiO in this work, with a thickness dependence and the comparison with organic layers provide a better understanding of the interfacial carrier dynamics in PSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Cheolwoo Park
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul 04310, Republic of Korea
| | | | - Weon-Sik Chae
- Korea Basic Science Institute, Daegu Center, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
| | - Wooyul Kim
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul 04310, Republic of Korea
| | - Munseok Jeong
- Department of Physics, Department of Energy Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
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Salzmann BV, van der Sluijs MM, Soligno G, Vanmaekelbergh D. Oriented Attachment: From Natural Crystal Growth to a Materials Engineering Tool. Acc Chem Res 2021; 54:787-797. [PMID: 33502844 PMCID: PMC7893701 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
ConspectusIntuitively, chemists see crystals grow atom-by-atom or molecule-by-molecule, very much like a mason builds a wall, brick by brick. It is much more difficult to grasp that small crystals can meet each other in a liquid or at an interface, start to align their crystal lattices and then grow together to form one single crystal. In analogy, that looks more like prefab building. Yet, this is what happens in many occasions and can, with reason, be considered as an alternative mechanism of crystal growth. Oriented attachment is the process in which crystalline colloidal particles align their atomic lattices and grow together into a single crystal. Hence, two aligned crystals become one larger crystal by epitaxy of two specific facets, one of each crystal. If we simply consider the system of two crystals, the unifying attachment reduces the surface energy and results in an overall lower (free) energy of the system. Oriented attachment often occurs with massive numbers of crystals dispersed in a liquid phase, a sol or crystal suspension. In that case, oriented attachment lowers the total free energy of the crystal suspension, predominantly by removal of the nanocrystal/liquid interface area. Accordingly, we should start by considering colloidal suspensions with crystals as the dispersed phase, i.e., "sols", and discuss the reasons for their thermodynamic (meta)stability and how this stability can be lowered such that oriented attachment can occur as a spontaneous thermodynamic process. Oriented attachment is a process observed both for charge-stabilized crystals in polar solvents and for ligand capped nanocrystal suspensions in nonpolar solvents. In this last system different facets can develop a very different reactivity for oriented attachment. Due to this facet selectivity, crystalline structures with very specific geometries can be grown in one, two, or three dimensions; controlled oriented attachment suddenly becomes a tool for material scientists to grow architectures that cannot be reached by any other means. We will review the work performed with PbSe and CdSe nanocrystals. The entire process, i.e., the assembly of nanocrystals, atomic alignment, and unification by attachment, is a very complex and intriguing process. Researchers have succeeded in monitoring these different steps with in situ wave scattering methods and real-space (S)TEM studies. At the same time coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations have been used to further study the forces involved in self-assembly and attachment at an interface. We will briefly come back to some of these results in the last sections of this review.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Giuseppe Soligno
- Condensed Matter and Interfaces,
Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, P. O. Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Daniel Vanmaekelbergh
- Condensed Matter and Interfaces,
Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, P. O. Box 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Volk AA, Epps RW, Abolhasani M. Accelerated Development of Colloidal Nanomaterials Enabled by Modular Microfluidic Reactors: Toward Autonomous Robotic Experimentation. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2021; 33:e2004495. [PMID: 33289177 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202004495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2020] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
In recent years, microfluidic technologies have emerged as a powerful approach for the advanced synthesis and rapid optimization of various solution-processed nanomaterials, including semiconductor quantum dots and nanoplatelets, and metal plasmonic and reticular framework nanoparticles. These fluidic systems offer access to previously unattainable measurements and synthesis conditions at unparalleled efficiencies and sampling rates. Despite these advantages, microfluidic systems have yet to be extensively adopted by the colloidal nanomaterial community. To help bridge the gap, this progress report details the basic principles of microfluidic reactor design and performance, as well as the current state of online diagnostics and autonomous robotic experimentation strategies, toward the size, shape, and composition-controlled synthesis of various colloidal nanomaterials. By discussing the application of fluidic platforms in recent high-priority colloidal nanomaterial studies and their potential for integration with rapidly emerging artificial intelligence-based decision-making strategies, this report seeks to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations between microfluidic reactor engineers and colloidal nanomaterial chemists. Full convergence of these two research efforts offers significantly expedited and enhanced nanomaterial discovery, optimization, and manufacturing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda A Volk
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Robert W Epps
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Milad Abolhasani
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
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