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ON THE SYNTHESIS, MEASUREMENT AND APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND DEVICES

Kevin, Punarja

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2016.

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Abstract

Punarja Kevin January 2016“On the Synthesis, measurement and applications of solar energy materials and devices”: A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.Second generation solar cells based on thin film semiconductors emerged as a result of the past ten years of intense research in the thin film preparation technology. Thin film solar cell technology can be cost effective as it uses comparatively cheap materials suitable for solar building integration. Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) is a well-known method for the deposition of high quality thin films. This thesis describes the synthesis of novel tin(II)dithiocarbamate [Sn(S2CNEt2)2] and bis(diphenylphosphinediselenoato) tin(II) [Sn(Ph2PSe2)2] and these complexes as single source precursor for the deposition of SnS and SnSe and by using the combination of [Sn(Ph2PSe2)2] with [Cu(acac)2], Cu2SnSe3 thin films were deposited by AACVD. By using suitable combinations of metal complexes ([nBu2Sn(S2CNEt2)2], [Cu(S2CNEt2)2] [Zn(S2CNEt2)2] [Zn(Se2CNEt2)2] [Zn(acac)2], [Sn(OAc)4], [Cu(PPh3){Ph2P(Se)NP(Se)Ph2}] thin films and nanocomposites of CZTS, CFTS, CZTSe, CFTSe, CZFTS, , CZFTSe, CZTSSE, CFTSSe and CZFTSSe were prepared. The effect of precursor concentration and deposition temperature on the structure, morphology and composition of the thin films were studied in detail using by powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and elemental mapping. This thesis addressing the structural inhomogeneity, control of growth and material characterization is expected to yield closer performance parity between CZTS–Se and CIGS solar cells. A series of systematic experiments were carried out. Through AACVD and simple solvothermal methods CZFTS nanoparticles and thin films were prepared. The simple, potentially, low-cost nature of the CZTS nanoparticles and the enhancement of charge carrier mobility achieved suggest that these nanoparticles have potential in the improvement of OFETs and perhaps other organic electronic devices.