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The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications

A photovoltaic device with an efficiency that could break the theoretical limit, exceeding similar to 60% is the focus in the research field in recent years. The efficiency of three important processes in a photovoltaic device need to be ensured to materialize the goal i.e., electron excitations, in...

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Main Authors: Shaafi, Nur Farha, Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin, Aziz, Shujahadeen B., Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani, Thanakodi, Suresh
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2021
Subjects:
QD Chemistry
T Technology (General)
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/28136/
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spelling my.um.eprints.281362022-07-25T04:53:12Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/28136/ The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications Shaafi, Nur Farha Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin Aziz, Shujahadeen B. Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani Thanakodi, Suresh QD Chemistry T Technology (General) A photovoltaic device with an efficiency that could break the theoretical limit, exceeding similar to 60% is the focus in the research field in recent years. The efficiency of three important processes in a photovoltaic device need to be ensured to materialize the goal i.e., electron excitations, injections and regenerations. A multiple exciton generation (MEG) mechanism has been proven to increase the photovoltaic conversion efficiency - achievable via usage of small size lead chalcogenides as main light absorber of the photovoltaic device. An efficient electron injection in an excitonic solar cell could be achieved upon fulfilment of the following factors i.e., (i) LUMOfluorophore > CBphotoelectrode, and (ii) small offset between the LUMOfluorophore and CBphotoelectrode. The optoelectronic properties of lead chalcogenide are tuneable based on its size and morphology. Therefore, a synthesis method that could control the size and morphology of the yielded lead chalcogenide plays an important role. This research investigated the effect of additional activated carbon (AC) to the yielded PbS using vacuum thermal evaporator method. The PbS thin films were fabricated with addition of AC with different surface areas i.e., 80 m(2)/g, 650 m(2)/g and 1560 m(2)/g using thermal evaporator at vacuum pressure of 1.0 x10(-5) Torr. The surface area of the ACs was determined using Micromeritics ASAP 2020 BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller). The morphology, elemental analysis, crystal structure, opto-electronic, electron injection efficiency and electrical conductivity of the PbS thin film was characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (EDX), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), absorption spectrometer, photoluminescence spectrometer (PL), and Bridge Technology 4-point probes (4PP) respectively. The excited and ground states of the PbS, and redox potential of ionLic PMII electrolyte were determined using quantum chemical calculations at b3lyp/lanl2dz level of theory. Three important observations have been made i.e., (i) addition of AC with the PbS reactants affects the yielded morphology of PbS thin film, (ii) bare PbS/TiO2 device structure offers electron injection efficiency as high as 97% from the PbS to TiO2, and (iii) the bare PbS/TiO2 device structure would offer maximum V-OC of ca. 1.7 V, however need to be paired with an electrolyte that possess oxidation potential of ca. -6.5 eV. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Elsevier 2021-05-25 Article PeerReviewed Shaafi, Nur Farha and Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin and Aziz, Shujahadeen B. and Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani and Thanakodi, Suresh (2021) The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 864. ISSN 0925-8388, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158117 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158117>. 10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.158117
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic QD Chemistry
T Technology (General)
spellingShingle QD Chemistry
T Technology (General)
Shaafi, Nur Farha
Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin
Aziz, Shujahadeen B.
Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani
Thanakodi, Suresh
The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
description A photovoltaic device with an efficiency that could break the theoretical limit, exceeding similar to 60% is the focus in the research field in recent years. The efficiency of three important processes in a photovoltaic device need to be ensured to materialize the goal i.e., electron excitations, injections and regenerations. A multiple exciton generation (MEG) mechanism has been proven to increase the photovoltaic conversion efficiency - achievable via usage of small size lead chalcogenides as main light absorber of the photovoltaic device. An efficient electron injection in an excitonic solar cell could be achieved upon fulfilment of the following factors i.e., (i) LUMOfluorophore > CBphotoelectrode, and (ii) small offset between the LUMOfluorophore and CBphotoelectrode. The optoelectronic properties of lead chalcogenide are tuneable based on its size and morphology. Therefore, a synthesis method that could control the size and morphology of the yielded lead chalcogenide plays an important role. This research investigated the effect of additional activated carbon (AC) to the yielded PbS using vacuum thermal evaporator method. The PbS thin films were fabricated with addition of AC with different surface areas i.e., 80 m(2)/g, 650 m(2)/g and 1560 m(2)/g using thermal evaporator at vacuum pressure of 1.0 x10(-5) Torr. The surface area of the ACs was determined using Micromeritics ASAP 2020 BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller). The morphology, elemental analysis, crystal structure, opto-electronic, electron injection efficiency and electrical conductivity of the PbS thin film was characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (EDX), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), absorption spectrometer, photoluminescence spectrometer (PL), and Bridge Technology 4-point probes (4PP) respectively. The excited and ground states of the PbS, and redox potential of ionLic PMII electrolyte were determined using quantum chemical calculations at b3lyp/lanl2dz level of theory. Three important observations have been made i.e., (i) addition of AC with the PbS reactants affects the yielded morphology of PbS thin film, (ii) bare PbS/TiO2 device structure offers electron injection efficiency as high as 97% from the PbS to TiO2, and (iii) the bare PbS/TiO2 device structure would offer maximum V-OC of ca. 1.7 V, however need to be paired with an electrolyte that possess oxidation potential of ca. -6.5 eV. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
format Article
author Shaafi, Nur Farha
Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin
Aziz, Shujahadeen B.
Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani
Thanakodi, Suresh
author_facet Shaafi, Nur Farha
Muzakir, Saifful Kamaluddin
Aziz, Shujahadeen B.
Kadir, Mohd Fakhrul Zamani
Thanakodi, Suresh
author_sort Shaafi, Nur Farha
title The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
title_short The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
title_full The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
title_fullStr The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
title_full_unstemmed The effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
title_sort effect of activated carbon additives on lead sulphide thin film for solar cell applications
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/28136/
_version_ 1739828441248694272
score 13.211869

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