Mechanism of Formation of Faceted Titania Nanoparticles from Anodized Titania Nanotubes

Though researchers worldwide have attempted to fabricate faceted titania nanoparticles with a higher fraction of {001} facets, which have high surface energy, the approaches have focused on use of either a very aggressive heating schedule or highly corrosive chemicals like HF. The current article reports a simple method for the transformation of the titania nanotubes to faceted nanoparticles (size varying from 15–120 nm) at relatively low temperatures and heating rates, without the use of any other corrosive chemicals, utilizing only the electrolyte inside the titania nanotubes remnant from the anodization of the titanium substrate. The formation of faceted nanoparticles was found to be strongly dependent on fluorine concentration and on initial state of titania nanotubes (amorphous/crystalline) and annealing temperature. The formation of the unique “nanorod in nanoporous” structures has been reported for the first time. The current article deals with a detailed study of the formation of these unique nanostructures and proposes a mechanism for the same

Investigation on Organic Molecule Additive for Moisture Stability and Defect Passivation via Physisorption in CH₃NH₃PbI₃ Based Perovskite

We investigate the role of n-type organic molecule, bathocuproine (BCP), additive in perovskite semiconductor film based solar cells using first principle calculations and optoelectronic studies. A state-of-art high fill factor of 0.82 and improved open circuit voltage of 0.95 V for CH₃NH₃PbI₃ (MAPI) based perovskite solar cells are achieved in addition with highly improved (more than one order) electroluminescence efficiency. Delayed emission spectroscopy does not show any blue shift peak or double peak emission suggests no structural changes in 3D perovskite. Contact angle studies using water droplet supports BCP is forming a capping layer to boost moisture barrier. Our experimental findings regarding no 2D structure formation has also been supported by first-principles electronic structure calculations based on DFT in MAPI after insertion of BCP. Furthermore, calculations suggest that a physisorption type of interaction has been found in between MAPI and BCP with an average distance of 2.9 Å. These results were found to be in agreement with steady-state and transient photoluminescence studies where an improved PL is observed by using perovskite solution with BCP additive. Chemical analysis and electroluminescence study confirmed the reduction in defect sites by BCP addition. The study suggests that BCP being a small molecule plays an important role in passivating and improving the MAPI film quality and points to an approach toward utilizing other such additives. Furthermore, this approach can be useful for other optoelectronic devices too based on wider bandgap perovskite semiconductors

Combinatorial Chemical Bath Deposition of CdS Contacts for Chalcogenide Photovoltaics

Contact layers play an important role in thin film solar cells, but new material development and optimization of its thickness is usually a long and tedious process. A high-throughput experimental approach has been used to accelerate the rate of research in photovoltaic (PV) light absorbers and transparent conductive electrodes, however the combinatorial research on contact layers is less common. Here, we report on the chemical bath deposition (CBD) of CdS thin films by combinatorial dip coating technique and apply these contact layers to Cu­(In,Ga)­Se₂ (CIGSe) and Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ (CZTSe) light absorbers in PV devices. Combinatorial thickness steps of CdS thin films were achieved by removal of the substrate from the chemical bath, at regular intervals of time, and in equal distance increments. The trends in the photoconversion efficiency and in the spectral response of the PV devices as a function of thickness of CdS contacts were explained with the help of optical and morphological characterization of the CdS thin films. The maximum PV efficiency achieved for the combinatorial dip-coating CBD was similar to that for the PV devices processed using conventional CBD. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that combinatorial dip-coating can be used to accelerate the optimization of PV device performance of CdS and other candidate contact layers for a wide range of emerging absorbers