'Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)'
Doi
Abstract
This research focused on efforts to prepare and characterize the first copper-indium-boron-diselenide (CIBS) photovoltaic materials. Attempts to fabricate CIBS in thin-film form followed a three-step process: 1) RF sputtering of copper, indium, and boron to form a copper-indium-boron (CIB) alloy; 2) ex-situ selenization of CIB via physical vapor deposition; 3) annealing the final product. No CIBS materials were produced with this method due to the formation of an unstable boron diselenide species that formed in step 2. Detailed investigations of the CIB alloy formation revealed that boron does not adequately mix with the copper and indium in step 1. In the last year, a nanoscience-based method has shown greater promise for successful CIBS preparation. In this two-step method, sources of copper, indium, boron, and selenium are combined and heated in a high-boiling amine solvent. The isolated product is then annealed at temperatures between 400-500 deg. C. Currently, purified CIBS has not been isolated and characterized but further study and development of this nanoscience-based method is in progress through the support of two grants from the DOE Office of Energy Renewability and Efficiency and the State of Nebraska’s Nebraska Research Initiative program. The research described in this report resulted in four scientific publications and 12 presentations at regional, national and international scientific and engineering conferences
