Premium
CuInSe 2 low‐cost thin‐film solar cells made from commercial elemental metallic nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Ungelenk Jan,
Haug Veronika,
Quintilla Aina,
Ahlswede Erik
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.200903418
Subject(s) - nanoparticle , materials science , substrate (aquarium) , deposition (geology) , layer (electronics) , chemical engineering , solar cell , metal , nanotechnology , thin film , metallurgy , optoelectronics , paleontology , oceanography , sediment , engineering , biology , geology
We present a method to prepare low‐cost CuInSe 2 (CIS) solar cells using commercially available low‐grade elemental Cu and In nanoparticles without prior synthesis of CIS nanoparticle precursors. A simple non‐vacuum ink deposition method is used where the nanoparticles are dispersed in alcohol and deposited onto a Mo/glass substrate in ambient atmosphere. Depending on the reduction and selenization steps, a compact CIS top layer comprising grains up to a few hundred nano‐ meters in size was observed to have formed using SEM and XRD. Complete solar cells were prepared by conventional methods, leading to a conversion efficiency well above 3%. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)