Earth abundant transparent conductors for photovoltaics

目前太阳能转换的趋势已经引起了人们对在光伏中加入富含地球的氧化物和原子薄半导体的兴趣的增加。这些材料的生产提供了可伸缩性和低碳足迹的好处，然而，掺入轻掺杂多晶材料可能会给能量收集设备带来损耗，使其效率降低到不切实际的程度。该项目的目的是开发一种框架，以提高用于能源收集设备的多晶材料的效率。这项工作将集中在两个相互交织的研究工作上：(1)超薄半导体中电荷载流子动力学的实验量化，重点是晶界附近的电荷保持现象，以及(2)发展准确描述此类材料中输运的理论框架。在这个项目的后期阶段，积累的知识将允许候选人通过调整生长参数和热处理步骤来设计材料的形态，以优化其效率。该项目的实验工作将基于达勒姆大学独有的两种表面分析仪器：微波阻抗显微镜和内部光电发射光束感应电流显微镜，前者以数十纳米的分辨率量化表面光伏特性，后者是在达勒姆专门设计的，用于研究结点和界面的界面动力学。本项目的理论工作将依赖于有限元半导体模拟器，它将输入到连续时间随机求解器中。

Current trends in solar energy conversion have led to an increased interest in the incorporation of earth-abundant oxides and atomically thin semiconductor in photovoltaics. The production of these materials offers the benefits of scalability and low carbon footprint, however, the incorporation of lightly doped polycrystalline materials is likely to introduce losses into energy harvesting devices, reducing their efficiency to the point of impracticality. The aim of this project is to develop a framework for increasing the efficiency of polycrystalline materials for use in energy harvesting devices. The work will focus on two intertwined research efforts: (1) experimental quantification of charge carrier dynamics across ultrathin semiconductors, with an emphasis on charge retention phenomena near the grain boundaries, and (2) the development of a theoretical framework for accurate description of transport in such materials. In a later stage of this project, the accumulated body of knowledge will allow the candidate to engineer the morphology of the material, by means of tuning the growth parameters and annealing steps, to optimise its efficiency.The experimental work in this project will be based on two surface analysis instruments, unique to Durham University: The Microwave Impedance Microscope that quantifies surface photovoltaic properties at a resolution of tens of nanometres, and the Internal Photoemission Optical Beam Induced Current Microscope, that was designed in Durham specifically for studying interface dynamics at junctions and interfaces. The theoretical work in this project will rely on finite element semiconductor simulator that will feed into a continuous time stochastic solver.