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Rodríguez-Tapiador MI, Jiménez-Suárez A, Lama A, Gordillo N, Asensi JM, del Rosario G, Merino J, Bertomeu J, Agarwal A, Fernández S. Effects of Deposition Temperature and Working Pressure on the Thermal and Nanomechanical Performances of Stoichiometric Cu 3N: An Adaptable Material for Photovoltaic Applications. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2023; 13:2950. [PMID: 37999304 PMCID: PMC10675677 DOI: 10.3390/nano13222950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
The pursuit of efficient, profitable, and ecofriendly materials has defined solar cell research from its inception to today. Some materials, such as copper nitride (Cu3N), show great promise for promoting sustainable solar technologies. This study employed reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering using a pure nitrogen environment to fabricate quality Cu3N thin films to evaluate how both temperature and gas working pressure affect their solar absorption capabilities. Several characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanoindentation, and photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS), were used to determine the main properties of the thin films. The results indicated that, at room temperature, it is possible to obtain a material that is close to stoichiometric Cu3N material (Cu/N ratio ≈ 3) with (100) preferred orientation, which was lost as the substrate temperature increases, demonstrating a clear influence of this parameter on the film structure attributed to nitrogen re-emission at higher temperatures. Raman microscopy confirmed the formation of Cu-N bonds within the 628-637 cm-1 range. In addition, the temperature and the working pressure significantly also influence the film hardness and the grain size, affecting the elastic modulus. Finally, the optical properties revealed suitable properties at lower temperatures, including bandgap values, refractive index, and Urbach energy. These findings underscore the potential of Cu3N thin films in solar energy due to their advantageous properties and resilience against defects. This research paves the way for future advancements in efficient and sustainable solar technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. I. Rodríguez-Tapiador
- Departamento de Energía, CIEMAT, Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
- Area de Ciencia e Ingeniería de Materiales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán, s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain;
| | - A. Jiménez-Suárez
- Area de Ciencia e Ingeniería de Materiales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán, s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain;
| | - A. Lama
- Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA; (A.L.); (A.A.)
| | - N. Gordillo
- Centro de Microanálisis de Materiales (CMAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
- Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - J. M. Asensi
- Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08027 Barcelona, Spain; (J.M.A.); (J.B.)
- Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
| | - G. del Rosario
- Centro de Apoyo Tecnológico (CAT), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán, s/n, 28939 Móstoles, Spain; (G.d.R.); (J.M.)
| | - J. Merino
- Centro de Apoyo Tecnológico (CAT), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán, s/n, 28939 Móstoles, Spain; (G.d.R.); (J.M.)
| | - J. Bertomeu
- Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08027 Barcelona, Spain; (J.M.A.); (J.B.)
- Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
| | - A. Agarwal
- Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33174, USA; (A.L.); (A.A.)
| | - S. Fernández
- Departamento de Energía, CIEMAT, Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain;
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Ros E, Tom T, Ortega P, Martin I, Maggi E, Asensi JM, López-Vidrier J, Saucedo E, Bertomeu J, Puigdollers J, Voz C. Elimination of Interface Energy Barriers Using Dendrimer Polyelectrolytes with Fractal Geometry. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2023; 15:28705-28715. [PMID: 37269290 PMCID: PMC10802975 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c01930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
In this work we study conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) films based on polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers of generations G1 and G3. These fractal macromolecules are compared to branched polyethylenimine (b-PEI) polymer using methanol as the solvent. All of these materials present a high density of amino groups, which protonated by methoxide counter-anions create strong dipolar interfaces. The vacuum level shift associated to these films on n-type silicon was 0.93 eV for b-PEI, 0.72 eV for PAMAM G1 and 1.07 eV for PAMAM G3. These surface potentials were enough to overcome Fermi level pinning, which is a typical limitation of aluminium contacts on n-type silicon. A specific contact resistance as low as 20 mΩ·cm2 was achieved with PAMAM G3, in agreement with the higher surface potential of this material. Good electron transport properties were also obtained for the other materials. Proof-of-concept silicon solar cells combining vanadium oxide as a hole-selective contact with these new electron transport layers have been fabricated and compared. The solar cell with PAMAM G3 surpassed 15% conversion efficiency with an overall increase of all the photovoltaic parameters. The performance of these devices correlates with compositional and nanostructural studies of the different CPE films. Particularly, a figure-of-merit (Vσ) for CPE films that considers the number of protonated amino groups per macromolecule has been introduced. The fractal geometry of dendrimers leads to a geometric increase in the number of amino groups per generation. Thus, investigation of dendrimer macromolecules seems a very good strategy to design CPE films with enhanced charge-carrier selectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- E. Ros
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - T. Tom
- Departament
de Física Aplicada, Universitat de
Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institute
of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain
| | - P. Ortega
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - I. Martin
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - E. Maggi
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - J. M. Asensi
- Departament
de Física Aplicada, Universitat de
Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institute
of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain
| | - J. López-Vidrier
- Departament
de Física Aplicada, Universitat de
Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institute
of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain
| | - E. Saucedo
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - J. Bertomeu
- Departament
de Física Aplicada, Universitat de
Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institute
of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain
| | - J. Puigdollers
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
| | - C. Voz
- Departament
d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona 08034, Spain
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Rodríguez-Tapiador MI, Merino J, Jawhari T, Muñoz-Rosas AL, Bertomeu J, Fernández S. Impact of the RF Power on the Copper Nitride Films Deposited in a Pure Nitrogen Environment for Applications as Eco-Friendly Solar Absorber. Materials (Basel) 2023; 16:1508. [PMID: 36837137 PMCID: PMC9965105 DOI: 10.3390/ma16041508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
This material can be considered to be an interesting eco-friendly choice to be used in the photovoltaic field. In this work, we present the fabrication of Cu3N thin films by reactive radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature, using nitrogen as the process gas. Different RF power values ranged from 25 to 200 W and gas pressures of 3.5 and 5 Pa were tested to determine their impact on the film properties. The morphology and structure were exhaustively examined by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Raman Spectroscopies and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), respectively. The AFM micrographs revealed different morphologies depending on the total pressure used, and rougher surfaces when the films were deposited at the lowest pressure; whereas FTIR and Raman spectra exhibited the characteristics bands related to the Cu-N bonds of Cu3N. Such bands became narrower as the RF power increased. XRD patterns showed the (100) plane as the preferred orientation, that changed to (111) with the RF power, revealing a worsening in structural quality. Finally, the band gap energy was estimated from transmission spectra carried out with a Perkin Elmer 1050 spectrophotometer to evaluate the suitability of Cu3N as a light absorber. The values obtained demonstrated the capability of Cu3N for solar energy conversion applications, indicating a better film performance under the sputtering conditions 5.0 Pa and RF power values ranged from 50 to 100 W.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - J. Merino
- Technology Support Center CAT, University Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán, s/n, 28039 Móstoles, Spain
| | - T. Jawhari
- Unitat d’Espectroscòpia Raman, Centres Científics i Tecnològics de la Universitat de Barcelona—CCiTUB, Lluís Solé i Sabarís, 1-3, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - A. L. Muñoz-Rosas
- Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - J. Bertomeu
- Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - S. Fernández
- Energy Department, CIEMAT, Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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Aneesh PM, Jayaraj MK, Reshmi R, Ajimsha RS, Kukreja LM, Aldrin A, Rojas F, Bertomeu J, López-Vidrier J, Hernández S. Observation of Room Temperature Photoluminescence from Asymmetric CuGaO2/ZnO/ZnMgO Multiple Quantum Well Structures. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 2015; 15:3944-3950. [PMID: 26505029 DOI: 10.1166/jnn.2015.9497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Asymmetric (CuGaO2/ZnO/ZnMgO) and symmetric (ZnMgO/ZnO/ZnMgO) multiple quantum well (MQW) structures were successfully fabricated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and their comparison were made. Efficient room temperature photoluminescent (PL) emission was observed from these MQWs and temperature dependent luminescence of asymmetric and symmetric MQWs can be explained using the existing theories. A systematic blue shift was observed in both MQWs with decrease in the confinement layer thickness which could be attributed to the quantum confinement effects. The PL emission from asymmetric and symmetric MQW structures were blue shifted compared to 150 nm thick ZnO thin film grown by PLD due to quantum confinement effects.
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Puigdollers J, Bertomeu J, Cifre J, Andreu J, Delgado JC. Deposition of Polysilicon Films by Hot-Wire CVD at Low Temperatures for Photovoltaic Applications. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1557/proc-377-63] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACTPolysilicon (poly-Si) thin films have been obtained using hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) from silane-hydrogen mixtures. The films were prepared at low substrate temperatures (down to 200°C) and at very high deposition rates (up to 40 Å/s). They showed good crystalline properties and no amorphous phases were detected. The films can also be efficiently doped by adding diborane or phosphine to gas phase. In this paper, an overview of the properties of the poly-Si films, intrinsic and p and n-doped, deposited at our laboratory by HWCVD is presented and discussed. The properties of the material and the features of the deposition technique which are interesting for their application in photovoltaics are emphasized.
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