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Chemical Bath Deposition of p-Type Transparent, Highly Conducting (CuS)x:(ZnS)1–x Nanocomposite Thin Films and Fabrication of Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

Journal Article · · Nano Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [5];  [3];  [6];  [2];  [5];  [2]
  1. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne (Switzerland)
  5. Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore)
  6. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
P-type transparent conducting films of nanocrystalline (CuS)x:(ZnS)1–x were synthesized by facile and low-cost chemical bath deposition. Wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to evaluate the nanocomposite structure, which consists of sub-5 nm crystallites of sphalerite ZnS and covellite CuS. Film transparency can be controlled by tuning the size of the nanocrystallites, which is achieved by adjusting the concentration of the complexing agent during growth; optimal films have optical transmission above 70% in the visible range of the spectrum. The hole conductivity increases with the fraction of the covellite phase and can be as high as 1000 S cm-1, which is higher than most reported p-type transparent materials and approaches that of n-type transparent materials such as indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) synthesized at a similar temperature. Heterojunction p-(CuS)x:(ZnS)1–x/n-Si solar cells were fabricated with the nanocomposite film serving as a hole-selective contact. Under 1 sun illumination, an open circuit voltage of 535 mV was observed. This value compares favorably to other emerging heterojunction Si solar cells which use a low temperature process to fabricate the contact, such as single-walled carbon nanotube/Si (370-530 mV) and graphene/Si (360-552 mV).
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; EE0004946; SC0004993
OSTI ID:
1530231
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1579819
OSTI ID: 1256523
Journal Information:
Nano Letters, Journal Name: Nano Letters Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 16; ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Design Principles and Material Engineering of ZnS for Optoelectronic Devices and Catalysis journal June 2018
Synthesis of 2D Metal Chalcogenide Thin Films through the Process Involving Solution‐Phase Deposition journal April 2018
A Real-Time Wearable UV-Radiation Monitor based on a High-Performance p-CuZnS/n-TiO 2 Photodetector journal August 2018
Materials and Designs for Wearable Photodetectors journal February 2019
Self-Powered n-SnO 2 /p-CuZnS Core-Shell Microwire UV Photodetector with Optimized Performance journal May 2018
Transparent Electrodes for Efficient Optoelectronics journal March 2017
Facile Synthesis of Copper Sulfide Nanosheet@Graphene Oxide for the Anode of Potassium‐Ion Batteries journal September 2019
Tunable self‐powered n‐SrTiO 3 photodetectors based on varying CuS‐ZnS nanocomposite film (p‐CuZnS, p‐CuS, and n‐ZnS) journal August 2019
Solution-Processed Transparent Self-Powered p-CuS-ZnS/n-ZnO UV Photodiode journal December 2017
Compositional, Structural, Morphological, Optical and Electrical Property Evolutions in MOCVD Cu-Zn-S Thin Films Prepared at Different Temperatures Using a Single Solid Source Precursor journal September 2019
Passivating contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells journal September 2019
Rational design of transparent p-type conducting non-oxide materials from high-throughput calculations journal January 2018
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Quantum capacitance of CuS:Ce 3+ quantum dots as high-performing supercapacitor electrodes journal January 2018
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