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Title: Nanocrystal Solar Cells

Thesis/Dissertation ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/922721· OSTI ID:922721
 [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

This dissertation presents the results of a research agenda aimed at improving integration and stability in nanocrystal-based solar cells through advances in active materials and device architectures. The introduction of 3-dimensional nanocrystals illustrates the potential for improving transport and percolation in hybrid solar cells and enables novel fabrication methods for optimizing integration in these systems. Fabricating cells by sequential deposition allows for solution-based assembly of hybrid composites with controlled and well-characterized dispersion and electrode contact. Hyperbranched nanocrystals emerge as a nearly ideal building block for hybrid cells, allowing the controlled morphologies targeted by templated approaches to be achieved in an easily fabricated solution-cast device. In addition to offering practical benefits to device processing, these approaches offer fundamental insight into the operation of hybrid solar cells, shedding light on key phenomena such as the roles of electrode-contact and percolation behavior in these cells. Finally, all-inorganic nanocrystal solar cells are presented as a wholly new cell concept, illustrating that donor-acceptor charge transfer and directed carrier diffusion can be utilized in a system with no organic components, and that nanocrystals may act as building blocks for efficient, stable, and low-cost thin-film solar cells.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
922721
Report Number(s):
LBNL-62274; R&D Project: 508409; TRN: US200804%%890
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English