High-resolution TEM characterization of ZnO core-shell nanowires for dye-sensitized solar cells

Recently ZnO nanowire films have been used in very promising and inexpensive dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). It was found that the performance of the devices can be enhanced by functionalising the nanowires with a thin metal oxide coating. This nm-scale shell is believed to tailor the electronic structure of the nanowire, and help the absorption of the dye. Core-shell ZnO nanowire structures are synthesised at low temperature (below 120°C) by consecutive hydrothermal growth steps. Different materials are investigated for the coating, including Mg, Al, Cs and Zr oxides. High resolution TEM is used to characterise the quality of both the nanowire core and the shell, and to monitor the thickness and the degree of crystallisation of the oxide coating. The interface between the nanowire core and the outer shell is investigated in order to understand the adhesion of the coating, and give valuable feedback for the synthesis process. Nanowire films are packaged into dye-sensitised solar cell prototypes; samples coated with ZrO2 and MgO show the largest enhancement in the photocurrent and open-circuit voltage and look very promising for further improvement. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Cell Reprogramming, IPS Limitations, and Overcoming Strategies in Dental Bioengineering

8 p.

Sensitivity map of laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy for single-cell analysis of colorectal cancer

Raman spectroscopy on single, living epithelial cells captured in a laser trap is shown to have diagnostic power over colorectal cancer. This new single-cell technology comprises three major components: primary culture processing of human tissue samples to produce single-cell suspensions, Raman detection on singly trapped cells, and diagnoses of the cells by artificial neural network classifications. it is compared with DNA flow cytometry for similarities and differences. Its advantages over tissue Raman spectroscopy are also discussed. In the actual construction of a diagnostic model for colorectal cancer, real patient data were taken to generate a training set of 320 Raman spectra and, a test set of 80. By incorporating outlier corrections to a conventional binary neural classifier, our network accomplished significantly better predictions than logistic regressions, with sensitivity improved from 77.5% to 86.3% and specificity improved from 81.3% to 86.3% for the training set and moderate improvements for the test set. Most important, the network approach enables a sensitivity map analysis to quantitate the relevance of each Raman band to the normal-to-cancer transform at the cell level. Our technique has direct clinic applications for diagnosing cancers and basic science potential in the study of cell dynamics of carcinogenesis. (C) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Sensitivity map of laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy for single-cell analysis of colorectal cancer

Raman spectroscopy on single, living epithelial cells captured in a laser trap is shown to have diagnostic power over colorectal cancer. This new single-cell technology comprises three major components: primary culture processing of human tissue samples to produce single-cell suspensions, Raman detection on singly trapped cells, and diagnoses of the cells by artificial neural network classifications. it is compared with DNA flow cytometry for similarities and differences. Its advantages over tissue Raman spectroscopy are also discussed. In the actual construction of a diagnostic model for colorectal cancer, real patient data were taken to generate a training set of 320 Raman spectra and, a test set of 80. By incorporating outlier corrections to a conventional binary neural classifier, our network accomplished significantly better predictions than logistic regressions, with sensitivity improved from 77.5% to 86.3% and specificity improved from 81.3% to 86.3% for the training set and moderate improvements for the test set. Most important, the network approach enables a sensitivity map analysis to quantitate the relevance of each Raman band to the normal-to-cancer transform at the cell level. Our technique has direct clinic applications for diagnosing cancers and basic science potential in the study of cell dynamics of carcinogenesis. (C) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Photonic and Device Design Principles for Ultrahigh-Efficiency (>50%), Spectrum-Splitting Photovoltaics

The sun has the potential to power the Earth's total energy needs, but electricity from solar power still constitutes an extremely small fraction of our power generation because of its high cost relative to traditional energy sources. Therefore, the cost of solar must be reduced to realize a more sustainable future. This can be achieved by significantly increasing the efficiency of modules that convert solar radiation to electricity. In this thesis, we consider several strategies to improve the device and photonic design of solar modules to achieve record, ultrahigh (> 50%) solar module efficiencies. First, we investigate the potential of a new passivation treatment, trioctylphosphine sulfide, to increase the performance of small GaAs solar cells for cheaper and more durable modules. We show that small cells (mm2), which currently have a significant efficiency decrease (~ 5%) compared to larger cells (cm2) because small cells have a higher fraction of recombination-active surface from the sidewalls, can achieve significantly higher efficiencies with effective passivation of the sidewalls. We experimentally validate the passivation qualities of treatment by trioctylphosphine sulfide (TOP:S) through four independent studies and show that this facile treatment can enable efficient small devices. Then, we discuss our efforts toward the design and prototyping of a spectrum-splitting module that employs optical elements to divide the incident spectrum into different color bands, which allows for higher efficiencies than traditional methods. We present a design, the polyhedral specular reflector, that has the potential for > 50% module efficiencies even with realistic losses from combined optics, cell, and electrical models. Prototyping efforts of one of these designs using glass concentrators yields an optical module whose combined spectrum-splitting and concentration should correspond to a record module efficiency of 42%. Finally, we consider how the manipulation of radiatively emitted photons from subcells in multijunction architectures can be used to achieve even higher efficiencies than previously thought, inspiring both optimization of incident and radiatively emitted photons for future high efficiency designs. In this thesis work, we explore novel device and photonic designs that represent a significant departure from current solar cell manufacturing techniques and ultimately show the potential for much higher solar cell efficiencies.

Dye-sensitized solar cells based on a single layer deposition of TiO 2 from a new formulation paste and their photovoltaic performance

A new strategy for enhancing the efficiency and reducing the production cost of TiO 2 solar cells by design of a new formulated TiO 2 paste with tailored crystal structure and morphology is reported. The conventional three- or four-fold layer deposition process was eliminated and replaced by a single layer deposition of TiO 2 compound. Different TiO 2 pastes with various crystal structures, morphologies and crystallite sizes were prepared by an aqueous particulate sol-gel process. Based on simultaneous differential thermal (SDT) analysis the minimum annealing temperature to obtain organic-free TiO 2 paste was determined at 400°C, being one of the lowest crystallization temperatures of TiO 2 photoanode electrodes for solar cell application. Photovoltaic measurements showed that TiO 2 solar cell with pure anatase crystal structure had higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that made of pure rutile-TiO 2. However, the PCE of solar cells depends on the anatase to rutile weight ratio, reaching a maximum at a specific value due to the synergic effect between anatase and rutile TiO 2 nanoparticles. Moreover, it was found that the PCE of solar cells made of crystalline TiO 2 powders was much higher, increasing in the range 32-84% depending on anatase to rutile weight ratio, than that of prepared by amorphous powders. TiO 2 solar cell with the morphology of mixtures of nanoparticles and microparticles had higher PCE than the solar cell with the same phase composition containing TiO 2 nanoparticles due to the role of TiO 2 microparticles as light scattering particles. The presented strategy would open up new insight into fabrication and structural design of low-cost TiO 2 solar cells with high power conversion efficiency. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

A highly efficient light-trapping structure for thin-film silicon solar cells

A highly efficient light-trapping structure, consisting of a diffractive grating, a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and a metal reflector was proposed. As an example, the proposed light-trapping structure with an indium tin oxide (ITO) diffraction grating, an a-Si:H/ITO DBR and an Ag reflector was optimized by the simulation via rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) for a 2.0-mu m-thick c-Si solar cell with an optimized ITO front antireflection (AR) layer under the air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) solar illumination. The weighted absorptance under the AM1.5 solar spectrum (A(AM1.5)) of the solar cell can reach to 69%, if the DBR is composed of 4 pairs of a-Si:H/ITOs. If the number of a-Si:H/ITO pairs is up to 8, a larger A(AM1.5) of 72% can be obtained. In contrast, if the Ag reflector is not adopted, the combination of the optimized ITO diffraction grating and the 8-pair a-Si:H/ITO DBR can only result in an A(AM1.5) of 68%. As the reference, A(AM1.5) = 31% for the solar cell only with the optimized ITO front AR layer. So, the proposed structure can make the sunlight highly trapped in the solar cell. The adoption of the metal reflector is helpful to obtain highly efficient light-trapping effect with less number of DBR pairs, which makes that such light-trapping structure can be fabricated easily.

Design of plasmonic back structures for efficiency enhancement of thin-film amorphous Si solar cells

Metallic back structures with one-dimensional periodic nanoridges attached to a thin-film amorphous Si (a-Si) solar cell are numerically studied. At the interfaces between a-Si and metal materials, the excitation of surface-plasmon polaritons leads to obvious absorption enhancements in a wide near-IR range for different ridge shapes and periods. The highest enhancement factor of the cell external quantum efficiency is estimated to be 3.32. The optimized structure can achieve an increase of 17.12% in the cell efficiency. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Characterization of polymorphous silicon thin film and solar cells

Polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) films have been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition in the region adjacent of phase transition from amorphous to microcrystalline state. Comparing to the conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the pm-Si:H has higher photoconductivity (sigma(ph)), better stability, and a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength range. It can be found from Raman spectra that there is a notable improvement in the medium range order. There are a blue shift for the stretching mode of IR spectra and a red shift for the wagging mode. The shifts are attributed to the variation of the microstructure. By using pm-Si:H film as intrinsic layer, a p-i-n junction solar cell was prepared with the initial efficiency of 8.51% and a stabilized efficiency of 8.01% (AM1.5, 100mw/cm(2)) at room temperature (T-R).

Computer simulation of a-Si : H/mu c-Si : H diphasic silicon solar cells

Based on our experimental research on diphasic silicon films, the parameters such as absorption coefficient, mobility lifetime product and bandgap were estimated by means of effective-medium theory. And then computer simulation of a-Si: H/mu c-Si: H diphasic thin film solar cells was performed. It was shown that the more crystalline fraction in the diphasic silicon films, the higher short circuit density, the lower open-circuit voltage and the lower efficiency. From the spectral response, we can see that the response in long wave region was improved significantly with increasing crystalline fraction in the silicon films. Taking Lambertian back refraction into account, the diphasic silicon films with 40%-50% crystalline fraction was considered to be the best intrinsic layer for the bottom solar cell in micromorph tandem.

NIP a-Si : H solar cells on stanless steel with p-type nc-Si : H window layer

The successful application of boron-doped hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon as window layer in a-Si: H nip solar cells on stainless steel foil with a thickness of 0.05 mm is reported. Open circuit voltage and fill factor of the fabricated solar cell were 0.90V and 0.70 respectively. The optical and structural properties of the p-layers have been investigated by using UV-VIS and Raman spectroscopy. It is confirmed that the p-layer is hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon with a wide optical gap due to quantum size effect.

QE and Suns-V-oc study on the epitaxial CSiTF solar cells

In order to clarify the major factors having confined the efficiencies of as-prepared crystalline silicon thin film (CSiTF) solar cells on the SSP (silicon sheets from powder) ribbons, QE (quantum efficiency) and Suns-V-oc study were performed on the epitaxial CSiTF solar cells fabricated on the SSP ribbons, the SSP ribbons after surface being zone melting recrystallized (ZMR) and single crystalline silicon (sc-Si) substrates. The results show that the epi-layers deposited on the SSP ribbons have rough surfaces, which not only increases the diffusion reflectance on the surfaces but also makes the anti-reflection coatings become structure-loosened, both of which would deteriorate the light trapping effect; in addition, the epi-layers deposited on the SSP ribbons possess poor crystallographic quality, so the heavy grain boundary (GB) recombination limits the diffusion length of the minority carriers in the epi-layers, which makes the as-prepared CSiTF solar cells suffer the worse spectra response at long-wavelength range. Nearly all the dark characteristic parameters of the CSiTF solar cells are far away from the ideal values. The performances of the CSiTF solar cells are especially affected by too high I-02 (the dark saturation current of space charge region) values and too low R-sh (parallel resistance) values. The higher 102 values are mainly caused by the heavy GB recombination resulting from the poor crystallographic qualities of the silicon active layers in the space charge regions, while the lower R-sh values are attributed to the electrical leakage at the un-passivated PN junction or solar cell edges after the solar cells are cut by the laser scriber.

Silicon thin films prepared in the transition region and their use in solar cells

Diphasic silicon films (nc-Si/a-Si:H) have been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition in the region adjacent of phase transition from amorphous to microcrystalline state. Comparing to the conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the nc-Si/a-Si:H has higher photoconductivity (sigma(ph)), better stability, and a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength range. It can be found from Raman spectra that there is a notable improvement in the medium range order. The blue shift for the stretching mode and red shift for the wagging mode in the IR spectra also show the variation of the microstructure. By using this kind of film as intrinsic layer, a p-i-n junction solar cell was prepared with the initial efficiency of 8.51 % and a stabilized efficiency of 8.01% (AM 1.5, 100 mw/cm(2)) at room temperature. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Emitter of hetero-junction solar cells created using pulsed rapid thermal annealing

In this paper, we use a pulsed rapid thermal processing (RTP) approach to create an emitter layer of hetero-junction solar cell. The process parameters and crystallization behaviour are studied. The structural, optical and electric properties of the crystallized films are also investigated. Both the depth of PN junction and the conductivity of the emitter layer increase with the number of RTP pulses increasing. Simulation results show that efficiencies of such solar cells can exceed 15% with a lower interface recombination rate, but the highest efficiency is 11.65% in our experiments.

Hydrogen passivation of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

The effects of hydrogen passivation on multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells are reported in this paper. Hydrogen plasma was generated by means of ac glow discharge in a hydrogen atmosphere. Hydrogen passivation was carried out with three different groups of mc-Si solar cells after finishing contacts. The experimental results demonstrated that the photovoltaic performances of the solar cell samples have been improved after hydrogen plasma treatment, with a relative increase in conversion efficiency up to 10.6%. A calculation modelling has been performed to interpret the experimental results using the model for analysis of microelectronic and photonic structures developed at Pennsylvania State University.