Description MSc master project
Iron pyrite nano inks for photovoltaic application
Supervision: Dr Yu Bi tel: 2782670; Dr A. J. Houtepen tel: 2782157
In collaboration with Dr Tom J. Savenije
Short description of project:
Iron pyrite is a very promising solar absorber material due to its suitable
bandgap (0.95eV) and high absorption coefficient (≥105 cm-1 for hv≥1.3eV). In
addition, it is nontoxic, cheap and abundant. However, the highest efficiency
(2.8%) reported is based on the photoelectrochemical cell in the 1980s. The
limiting factor is the high dark current, which results in small open circuit
voltages of less than 0.2V. This low open voltage is attributed to trace impurities
of marcasite or iron monosulfide phase, or to a large density of surface states.
Recently, solution processed solar cells made from nano inks attract lots of
attention since it’s low cost and easy to handle, besides nano inks can be surface
modified to reduce the surface defect via ligand exchange during or after
synthesis. Therefore, iron pyrite nano inks are considered to be a new aspect to
investigate the possibility of solving the old and difficult problem about bulk iron
pyrite. Stable and photoactive iron pyrite nano inks are reported in the
literature, which is believed that TOPO is an important surfactant to maintain the
stability. However, TOPO is not an ideal surfactant for nanocrystal(NC) synthesis
since the purity of TOPO is unreliable. In this project, we aim to synthesize stable
and photoactive iron pyrite nano inks by TOPO free hot-injection method.
Different combination of coordinating solvent and surfactant such as (HDA, OPA)
will be investigated in the synthesis. The optical-electronic property of iron
pyrite nano inks with and without TOPO will be compared to study the effect of
different surfactant, which would give us further understanding about the
surfactant effect on surface defect.
Activities within the framework of the project
Iron pyrite nano inks are synthesized via hot-injection method. Different coordinating
solvent and surfactants will be used in the synthesis. NC film will be made by
dipcoating method. XRD, TEM, absorption and PL spectra will be used to
characterize the nano inks. TRMC measurements will be performed to check the
photoconductivity of NC films.
TOPO
HDA
OPA
XRD
TEM
PL
TRMC
Trioctylphosphine oxide
1-Hexadecanylamine
Octylphosphine oxide
X-ray Diffraction
Transmission electron microscopy
Photoluminescence
Time-resolved microwave conductance