STTR Phase I: Spray-On Nanostructured Metal Oxide Films for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion

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。这个小企业技术转让研究第一阶段项目利用了Aluminmat革命性的溶液等离子喷涂工艺来制造纳米结构的树枝状氧化物薄膜，用于低成本光伏太阳能或太阳能/水氢分离设备应用。 高表面积金属氧化物薄膜是下一代能量转换的关键器件元件。虽然已经进行了许多基础工作来证明可行性并构建原型，但在解决这些设备的高效、高速制造工艺的成本和可靠性方面几乎没有取得进展。 我们的工艺是通过Eschermat和马萨诸塞大学之间的合作开发的，涉及通过将由可压缩溶剂饱和的前体溶液快速膨胀产生的细气溶胶引入等离子喷枪来沉积氧化物膜。 我们的可行性实验表明，该工艺直接产生树枝状氧化物纳米结构的开放的、高度多孔的网络，而无需随后的铸造或退火步骤。 知识的优点包括纯/掺杂的纳米膜，提供良好的控制架构和沉积条件，前体反应性和膜性能之间的关系的建立的沉积技术的发展。 使用这些材料构造的太阳能电池与传统薄膜方法的基线器件的性能比较将提供对结构-性能关系的额外理解。更广泛的影响包括验证一种廉价的、可制造的、喷涂到纳米结构金属氧化物薄膜的方法，这种方法可以显著降低太阳能电池和氢气产生的成本。 该技术也适用于其他设备，包括传感器和电池。 预期的益处/潜在的商业应用包括稳健的处理、高质量和性能以及下一代能量转换装置的经济可承受性。SPS加工的喷涂性质使我们能够瞄准低成本、大面积的市场，目前这一市场的代表性不足，部分原因是制造成本相对于效率较高。 在纳米尺度上调整薄膜结构和结晶度的能力提供了在器件性能和效率方面的增益。 客户包括太阳能领域的大型和小型公司，包括专注于染料敏化和柔性太阳能电池的公司。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Technology Transfer Research Phase I project exploits Inframat's revolutionary solution plasma spray process to fabricate nanostructured dendritic oxide films for low cost photovoltaic solar energy or solar/water hydrogen splitting device applications. High surface area metal oxide films are crucial device elements for next generation energy conversion. While much fundamental work has been conducted to demonstrate feasibility and build prototypes, little progress has been made towards addressing the cost and reliability of efficient, high rate manufacturing processes for these devices. Our process, developed through collaboration between Inframat and UMass, involves the deposition of oxide films via the introduction of a fine aerosol produced by the rapid expansion of precursor solutions saturated with a compressible solvent into a plasma spray gun. Our feasibility experiments indicate that the process yields open, highly porous networks of dendritic oxide nanostructures directly, without subsequent casting or annealing steps. The intellectual merit includes the development of a deposition technology for pure/doped nanofilms that offers well controlled architectures and the establishment of the relationships between deposition conditions, precursor reactivity and film properties. Performance comparison of solar cells constructed using these materials to baseline devices of traditional film approaches will provide additional understanding of structure-property relationships. The broader impact includes validation of an inexpensive, manufacturable, spray on route to nanostructured metal oxide films that could significantly reduce the cost of solar cells and H2 generation. The technology is applicable to other devices, including sensors and batteries. The anticipated benefits/potential commercial applications include robust processing, high quality and performance, and economical affordability for next generation energy conversion devices. The spray on nature of SPS processing allows us to target the low cost, large area segment of the market, which is currently underrepresented due in part to high manufacturing costs relative to efficiency. The ability to tune film structure and crystallinity at the nanoscale offers enabling gains in device performance and efficiency. The customers include both large and small companies in the solar energy space, including those with a concentrated focus on dye-sensitized and flexible solar cells.