Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide Based Solar Cells

铜锌锡硫化物太阳能电池

• 批准号: 0931145
• 负责人: Eray Aydil
• 金额: $ 35万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0931145&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Copper; Zinc; Tin; Sulfide; Based

0931145AydilThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).SummaryAchieving solar-to-electric energy conversion using inexpensive, abundant and nontoxic materials is an important goal. While silicon is a material that fits most of these criteria, highest efficiency solar cells are made from expensive single crystal wafers. Solar cells based on thin films of semiconductors are emerging as inexpensive alternatives to silicon but the two materials that yield the highest efficiency thin film solar cells, CdTe and CuInGaSe2 (CIGS), have toxic and rare elements (In and Cd). Finding abundant and nontoxic replacements for In and Cd in CIGS solar cells, without sacrificing the high efficiencies reached with these technologies, is a challenge. This work attempts to address this problem. Intellectual Merit - Copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu2ZnSnS4 or CZTS) is a potential material that has promising attributes for efficient, inexpensive solar cells made from abundant and nontoxic elements. This proposal aims at developing well-controlled deposition methods for CZTS that will result in high quality absorber material for CZTS-based solar cells. We propose to use a synergistic combination of combinatorial deposition methods and careful characterization of films that are found to yield high efficiency solar cells to elucidate the fundamental principles that lead to improvements in efficiency and film quality. The proposed research is on a new material with very high potential for use in solar cells. Very little is known about the properties of CZTS and even less about the process-structure-property-performance relationships for its use in solar cells. The proposed research will result in knowledge on how to deposit high quality CZTS films and to make high efficiency CZTS based solar cells. It will establish the relation between film deposition conditions and electrical, optical and structural properties of the CZTS film. The proposed approach balances the need to establish the fundamental science behind the CZTS solar cell technology and the practical requirement of rapidly moving towards the region of the parameter space that produces high efficiency films relevant to solving a very challenging energy problem. Broader Impacts - First, the proposed research could provide a solution to the issue related to providing energy to approximately ten billion people using a sustainable technology. Second, this project serves as a vehicle for educating next generation of scientist and engineers who must be trained broadly to function in the increasingly interdisciplinary work place. The project cuts across traditional boundaries between chemistry, physics and engineering and the students involved with this research will be educated in a culture that values interdisciplinary collaboration. Third, the research will be integrated into the outreach and educational activities beyond the training of graduate students. The plan includes five components: (i) continued interactions with Science Museum of Minnesota and Twin Cities Public Television, (ii) continued mentoring of undergraduate students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, (iii) continued mentoring of high school teachers for developing science content for their classrooms, (iv) insertion of PV content into a regional center for technical education in nanotechnology and (iv) volunteering for outreach opportunities that arise in the PIs? local community.

0931145 Aydil该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。摘要使用廉价，丰富和无毒的材料实现太阳能到电能的转换是一个重要的目标。虽然硅是一种符合大多数这些标准的材料，但效率最高的太阳能电池是由昂贵的单晶晶片制成的。基于半导体薄膜的太阳能电池正在成为硅的廉价替代品，但产生最高效率薄膜太阳能电池的两种材料--CdTe和CuInGaSe 2（CIGS）含有有毒和稀有元素（In和Cd）。在CIGS太阳能电池中找到大量无毒的In和Cd替代品，而不牺牲这些技术所达到的高效率，是一个挑战。这项工作试图解决这个问题。铜锌锡硫化物（Cu 2 ZnSnS 4或CZTS）是一种潜在的材料，具有由丰富和无毒元素制成的高效，廉价的太阳能电池的有前途的属性。该提案旨在为CZTS开发良好控制的沉积方法，从而为基于CZTS的太阳能电池提供高质量的吸收剂材料。我们建议使用协同组合的沉积方法和仔细表征的薄膜，发现产生高效率的太阳能电池阐明的基本原则，导致效率和薄膜质量的改善。 拟议的研究是关于一种在太阳能电池中具有非常高潜力的新材料。关于CZTS的性质知之甚少，关于其在太阳能电池中的使用的工艺-结构-性质-性能关系更是知之甚少。该研究将有助于我们了解如何制备高质量的存款CZTS薄膜和制备高效率的CZTS基太阳能电池。它将建立薄膜沉积条件与CZTS薄膜的电学、光学和结构特性之间的关系。所提出的方法平衡了建立CZTS太阳能电池技术背后的基础科学的需要和快速向产生与解决非常具有挑战性的能源问题相关的高效膜的参数空间区域移动的实际要求。更广泛的影响-首先，拟议的研究可以提供一个解决方案，有关提供能源的问题，约100亿人使用可持续发展的技术。 其次，该项目作为教育下一代科学家和工程师的工具，他们必须接受广泛的培训，才能在日益跨学科的工作场所发挥作用。该项目跨越了化学，物理和工程之间的传统界限，参与这项研究的学生将在重视跨学科合作的文化中接受教育。 第三，研究将被纳入研究生培训之外的外联和教育活动。该计划包括五个组成部分：（i）继续与明尼苏达科学博物馆和双子城公共电视台互动，（ii）继续指导本科生，特别是来自代表性不足群体的本科生，（iii）继续指导高中教师为课堂开发科学内容，（iv）将PV内容插入纳米技术技术教育区域中心，以及（iv）自愿参与PI中出现的外联机会？当地社区。