Journal article
Microreactor Chemical Bath Deposition of Laterally Graded Cd1-xZnxS Thin Films: A Route to High-Throughput Optimization for Photovoltaic Buffer Layers
Chemistry of materials, v 25(3)
12 Feb 2013
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Cd1-xZnxS (CdZnS) is a promising replacement for the CdS buffer layers in copper indium gallium (dOselenide (CIGS) solar cells because the wider band gap of CdZnS offers improved optical transmittance of blue light. Chemical bath deposition (CBD) is the state-of-the-art deposition method for CdS and CdZnS. However, CBD of CdZnS is poorly understood, and relationships between bath composition and stoichiometry, microstructure, and optoelectronic properties of the deposited film are lacking. We introduce CBD using a continuous flow microreactor as a new technique to rapidly explore a wide variety of deposition conditions on a single substrate using spatially dependent characterization. X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicate that the film is a mixture of nanocrystalline CdZnS and amorphous Zn(O,OH,S). Over the length of a single substrate, films showed increasing Zn:Cd ratio in the nanocrystalline phase, increasing amorphous content, and increasing quantum confinement, and resultant monotonic increase in band gap from 2.42 to 2.75 eV. Microreactor CBD (mu R-CBD) enables rapid identification of CdZnS compositions that are ideal candidates for thin film photovoltaics, as well as determination of the CBD conditions required to deposit them.
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Details
- Title
- Microreactor Chemical Bath Deposition of Laterally Graded Cd1-xZnxS Thin Films: A Route to High-Throughput Optimization for Photovoltaic Buffer Layers
- Creators
- Kevin M. McPeak - Drexel UniversityBorirak Opasanont - Drexel UniversityTomohiro Shibata - Argonne National LaboratoryDong-Kyun Ko - University of PennsylvaniaMatthew A. Becker - University of Notre DameSoma Chattopadhyay - Argonne National LaboratoryHolt P. Bui - University of DelawareThomas P. Beebe - University of DelawareBruce A. Bunker - University of Notre DameChristopher B. Murray - University of PennsylvaniaJason B. Baxter - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Chemistry of materials, v 25(3)
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society; Washington, DC
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- DE-SC0002158 / U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering; United States Department of Energy (DOE) DMR-0520020 / NSF through MRSEC; National Science Foundation (NSF) CMMI-1000111 / National Science Foundation (NSF) DMR-0537588 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000315018500005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84873620723
- Other Identifier
- 991019168685804721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary