2/28/2017 NanocrystalsolarcellWikipedia

Nanocrystalsolarcell
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Nanocrystalsolarcellsaresolarcellsbasedona
substratewithacoatingofnanocrystals.The
nanocrystalsaretypicallybasedonsilicon,CdTeor
CIGSandthesubstratesaregenerallysiliconorvarious
organicconductors.Quantumdotsolarcellsarea
variantofthisapproach,buttakeadvantageof
quantummechanicaleffectstoextractfurther
performance.Dyesensitizedsolarcellsareanother
relatedapproach,butinthiscasethenanostructuring
ispartofthesubstrate.

Previousfabricationmethodsreliedonexpensive
Efficiencyofdifferentsolarcells.
molecularbeamepitaxyprocesses,butcolloidal
synthesisallowsforcheapermanufacture.Athinfilm
ofnanocrystalsisobtainedbyaprocessknownas"spincoating".Thisinvolvesplacinganamountofthequantum
dotsolutionontoaflatsubstrate,whichisthenrotatedveryquickly.Thesolutionspreadsoutuniformly,andthe
substrateisspununtiltherequiredthicknessisachieved.

QuantumdotbasedphotovoltaiccellsbasedondyesensitizedcolloidalTiO2filmswereinvestigatedin1991[1]
andwerefoundtoexhibitpromisingefficiencyofconvertingincidentlightenergytoelectricalenergy,andtobe
incrediblyencouragingduetothelowcostofmaterialsused.Asinglenanocrystal(channel)architectureinwhich
anarrayofsingleparticlesbetweentheelectrodes,eachseparatedby~1excitondiffusionlength,wasproposedto
improvethedeviceefficiency[2]andresearchonthistypeofsolarcellisbeingconductedbygroupsatStanford,
BerkeleyandtheUniversityofTokyo.

Althoughresearchisstillinitsinfancy,inthefuturenanocrystalphotovoltaicsmayofferadvantagessuchas
flexibility(quantumdotpolymercompositephotovoltaics[3])lowercosts,cleanpowergeneration[4]andan
efficiencyof65%,[5]comparedtoaround20to25%forfirstgeneration,crystallinesiliconbasedphotovoltaics.[6]

Itisarguedthatmanymeasurementsoftheefficiencyofthenanocrystalsolarcellareincorrectandthat
nanocrystalsolarcellsarenotsuitableforlargescalemanufacturing.[7]

Recentresearchhasexperimentedwithleadselenide(PbSe)semiconductor,aswellaswithcadmiumtelluride
photovoltaics(CdTe),whichhasalreadybeenwellestablishedintheproductionofsecondgenerationthinfilm
solarcells.Othermaterialsarebeingresearchedaswell.

Contents
1 Otherthirdgenerationsolarcells
2 Seealso
3 References
4 Externallinks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanocrystal_solar_cell 1/3
2/28/2017 NanocrystalsolarcellWikipedia

Otherthirdgenerationsolarcells
Photoelectrochemicalcell
Polymersolarcell
Perovskitesolarcell

Seealso
Quantumdotsolarcell
Nanocrystallinesilicon
Nanoparticle

References
1.B.OReganandM.Gratzel,(1991)."Alowcost,highefficiencysolarcellbasedondyesensitizedcolloidalTiO2
films".Nature.353(353):737740.Bibcode:1991Natur.353..737O.doi:10.1038/353737a0.
2.J.S.Salafsky(2001)."A'channel'designusingsingle,semiconductornanocrystalsforefficient(opto)electronicdevices
films".SolidStateElectronics.45(1):5358.Bibcode:2001SSEle..45...53S.doi:10.1016/S00381101(00)001933.
3.D.S.Ginger&N.C.Greenham,(1999)."PhotoinducedelectrontransferfromconjugatedpolymerstoCdSe
nanocrystals".PhysicalReviewB.59(16):10622.Bibcode:1999PhRvB..5910622G.doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.59.10622.
4.IlanGur,NeilA.Fromer,MichaelL.Geier,andA.PaulAlivisatos,(2005)."AirStableAllInorganicNanocrystalSolar
CellsProcessedfromSolution".Science.310(5745):462465.Bibcode:2005Sci...310..462G.
doi:10.1126/science.1117908.PMID16239470.
5.QuantumDotsMayBoostPhotovoltaicEfficiencyTo65%(http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002789.html),24May
2005
6."PhotovoltaicsReport".FraunhoferISE.28July2014.p.6.Archivedfromtheoriginal(PDF)on31August2014.
Retrieved31August2014.
7.N.Gupta,G.F.Alapatt,R.Podila,R.Singh,K.F.Poole,(2009)."ProspectsofNanostructureBasedSolarCellsfor
ManufacturingFutureGenerationsofPhotovoltaicModules".InternationalJournalofPhotoenergy.2009:1.
doi:10.1155/2009/154059.

Externallinks
ScienceNewsOnline,QuantumDotsLeap:Tappingtinycrystals'inexplicablelightharvestingtalent(http://
www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060603/bob8.asp),June3,2006.
InformationWeek,NanocrystalDiscoveryHasSolarCellPotential(http://www.informationweek.com/story/s
howArticle.jhtml?articleID=175802865),January6,2006.
BerkeleyLab,BerkeleyLabAirstableInorganicNanocrystalSolarCellsProcessedfromSolution(http://w
ww.lbl.gov/tt/techs/lbnl2116.html),2005.
ScienceDaily,SunnyFutureForNanocrystalSolarCells(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051
023122429.htm),October23,2005.

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Categories: Solarcells Nanomaterials Quantumelectronics

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