Ternary nanocomposites of reduced graphene oxide, polyaniline and hexaniobate: hierarchical architecture and high polaron formation

• Claudio H. B. Silva,
• Maria Iliut,
• Christopher Muryn,
• Christian Berger,
• Zachary Coldrick,
• Vera R. L. Constantino,
• Marcia L. A. Temperini and
• Aravind Vijayaraghavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2936–2946, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.272

• applied, for instance, as supercapacitors, sensing materials, solar cells, electrochromic devices, anticorrosion coatings or as materials for carbon dioxide capture [8]. The layered inorganic phase offers a high surface area for PANI deposition and increases its thermal stability with regard to

Graphene-enhanced metal oxide gas sensors at room temperature: a review

• Dongjin Sun,
• Yifan Luo,
• Marc Debliquy and
• Chao Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2832–2844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.264

• dioxide (TiO2), as a wide-bandgap semiconductor, has been widely used as photocatalyst, and in solar cells and gas sensors [70][71][72]. In general, its operating temperature is over 200 °C, so scholars try to prepare composites with graphene to reduce its operating temperature. However, the stability of

Near-infrared light harvesting of upconverting NaYF₄:Yb³⁺/Er³⁺-based amorphous silicon solar cells investigated by an optical filter

• Daiming Liu,
• Qingkang Wang and
• Qing Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2788–2793, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.260

• light seriously restricts the photoelectric conversion efficiency of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells. Spectral upconversion is of great significance in reducing the wastage. Herein, the upconverting compound NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ was synthesized via a hydrothermal method. SEM and

• harvesting. Keywords: filter; light harvesting; solar cells; upconverting; Introduction One potential way to meet the increasing energy consumption requirements lies in the utilization of solar energy. Solar cells are expected to play an important role in relieving the global energy crisis. Among solar

• the visible range; however, they are almost transparent for near-infrared radiation (NIR, 700–2500 nm), which constitutes 52% of the energy of the entire solar spectrum [2][3]. The transmittance of NIR light is one of the major energy-loss mechanisms for conventional a-Si:H solar cells [4][5]. This

Oriented zinc oxide nanorods: A novel saturable absorber for lasers in the near-infrared

• Pavel Loiko,
• Tanujjal Bora,
• Josep Maria Serres,
• Haohai Yu,
• Magdalena Aguiló,
• Francesc Díaz,
• Uwe Griebner,
• Valentin Petrov,
• Xavier Mateos and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2730–2740, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.255

• due to the high sensitivity of ZnO to chemical environments [6], for light-emitting diodes due to the compatibility with the GaN technology and random lasing [7] (in the blue, around 0.390 µm), and in dye-sensitized solar cells [8]. The absorption and emission properties of the ZnO nanomaterials are

Optimization of Mo/Cr bilayer back contacts for thin-film solar cells

• Nima Khoshsirat,
• Fawad Ali,
• Vincent Tiing Tiong,
• Mojtaba Amjadipour,
• Hongxia Wang,
• Mahnaz Shafiei and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2700–2707, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.252

• .9.252 Abstract Molybdenum (Mo) is the most commonly used material as back contact in thin-film solar cells. Adhesion of Mo film to soda–lime glass (SLG) substrate is crucial to the performance of solar cells. In this study, an optimized bilayer structure made of a thin layer of Mo on an ultra-thin

• the back contact thickness to 600 nm. That is two thirds to half of the thickness that is currently being used for bilayer and single layer back contact for thin-film solar cells. We demonstrate the excellent properties of Mo/Cr bilayer as back contact of a CZTS solar cell. Keywords: back contact

• ; bilayer; chromium; DC sputtering; molybdenum; optical reflectance; Introduction Molybdenum (Mo) thin films are widely used as a back contact for photovoltaic devices such as Cu(In1−xGax)S2 (CIGS) and Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin-film solar cells. The back contact is the first layer to be deposited and its

Nanostructured liquid crystal systems and applications

• Alexei R. Khokhlov and
• Alexander V. Emelyanenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2644–2645, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.245

• having numerous applications in liquid crystal displays, modulators, sensors, solar cells, etc. Liquid crystals are used in both large and small devices. They surround us everywhere: in our house, on the street, and at our job. Liquid crystals are applied in biology and medicine, and for oil recovery as

Performance analysis of rigorous coupled-wave analysis and its integration in a coupled modeling approach for optical simulation of complete heterojunction silicon solar cells

• Ziga Lokar,
• Benjamin Lipovsek,
• Marko Topic and
• Janez Krc

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2315–2329, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.216

• Ziga Lokar Benjamin Lipovsek Marko Topic Janez Krc University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Trzaska 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia 10.3762/bjnano.9.216 Abstract A variety of light management structures have been introduced in solar cells to improve light harvesting and further

• simulation of solar cells, in particular heterojunction silicon (HJ Si) solar cells. The structure of HJ Si solar cells consists of thin and thick layers, and additionally, micro- and nano-textures are also introduced to further exploit the potential of light trapping. The RCWA was tested on the front

• HJ Si solar cells, demonstrating a 13.4% improvement in the short-circuit current density with respect to the flat cell and 1.4% with respect to the cell with double-sided random micropyramids. We additionally demonstrate the ability to simulate a combination of nano- and microtextures at a single

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2209–2235, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.207

• with an outlook highlighting the most promising strategies for future progress of photovoltaic systems based on lead-free perovskite compounds. Keywords: light harvesting; low-toxic materials; organo-inorganic perovskites; solar cells; Review Introduction The field of photovoltaics and photochemical

• light harvesting using nanocrystalline semiconductor materials is a thriving field of research that intersects physics, physical and material chemistry, photonics and photochemistry. The investment in photovoltaic solar cells has increased among other sustainable sources of electricity, whereby the

• market is dominated by silicon solar cells with top light-to-current conversion efficiencies reaching ≈27% [1]. As an alternative to the Si-based cells requiring a relatively thick absorber layer due to the indirect character of electron transitions in Si, direct-bandgap metal chalcogenide semiconductors

Light–Matter interactions on the nanoscale

• Mohsen Rahmani and
• Chennupati Jagadish

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2125–2127, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.201

• , including emission, detection, amplification and control of light. Photonics offers a wide range of applications in different areas ranging from sensing and imaging, to solar cells and optical communication [1]. It is no surprise that many consider photonics to be the technology revolution of the 21st

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• Pascal Kaienburg Benjamin Klingebiel Thomas Kirchartz IEK5-Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany Faculty of Engineering and CENIDE, University of Duisburg-Essen, Carl-Benz-Str. 199, 47057 Duisburg, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.9.200 Abstract Antimony sulfide solar cells have

• conditions, the role of the polymeric hole transport material is discussed. The efficiency of our best solar cells exceeds previous reports for each processing route, and our champion device displays one of the highest efficiencies reported for planar antimony sulfide solar cells. Keywords: antimony sulfide

• ; hole transport material; solar cell; Introduction Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) is a promising high band gap light absorber for solar cells [1][2][3][4][5]. The record efficiency of 7.5% [6] is comparable to that of other less investigated materials, such as the best lead-free perovskites [7], Cu2O [8] and

A scanning probe microscopy study of nanostructured TiO₂/poly(3-hexylthiophene) hybrid heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications

• Laurie Letertre,
• Roland Roche,
• Olivier Douhéret,
• Hailu G. Kassa,
• Denis Mariolle,
• Nicolas Chevalier,
• Łukasz Borowik,
• Philippe Dumas,
• Benjamin Grévin,
• Roberto Lazzaroni and
• Philippe Leclère

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2087–2096, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.197

• -UGA, 17 rue des Martyrs F-38054, Grenoble, France 10.3762/bjnano.9.197 Abstract The nanoscale morphology of photoactive hybrid heterojunctions plays a key role in the performances of hybrid solar cells. In this work, the heterojunctions consist of a nanocolumnar TiO2 surface covalently grafted with a

• for their fabrication, these devices are deposited on rigid substrates and involve relatively heavy and costly materials of possibly low abundance and/or toxicity [4]. New PV technologies, such as organic photovoltaics (OPV) and hybrid solar cells, are now being developed [2] to cope with such issues

• . In particular, hybrid solar cells can possibly benefit from the low economic and energy costs of production, high absorbance and tailorable absorption spectrum of the organic materials on the one hand, and from the good stability, absorption and electrical properties of the inorganic materials on the

Metal-free catalysis based on nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials: a photoelectron spectroscopy point of view

• Mattia Scardamaglia and
• Carla Bittencourt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2015–2031, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.191

• splitting of water to molecular hydrogen via hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER and OER, respectively) are fundamental working mechanisms at the cathode of fuel cells, metal–air batteries and dye-sensitized solar cells [2]. However, the current working catalysts are based on expensive metals, such

• -sensitized solar cells [67]. A high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries was obtained using graphene co-doped with nitrogen and fluorine, which was prepared by a hydrothermal reaction of an aqueous dispersion of graphene oxide with trimethylamine trihydrofluoride [68]. In nitrogen-doped

Improving the catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution of monolayered SnSe_2(1−x)S_2x by mechanical strain

• Sha Dong and
• Zhiguo Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1820–1827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.173

• ], electronics [28], and catalysis [29], as well as in the fabrication of solar cells and film electrodes [30]. A good electro-catalyst for HER should have sufficient active sites for catalysis. Furthermore, because electrons participate in the HER process, an ideal catalyst for HER should have good electronic

Know your full potential: Quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy on nanoscale electrical devices

• Amelie Axt,
• Ilka M. Hermes,
• Victor W. Bergmann,
• Niklas Tausendpfund and
• Stefan A. L. Weber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1809–1819, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.172

• investigate the influence of the operation method in Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) on the measured potential distribution. KPFM is widely used to map the nanoscale potential distribution in operating devices, e.g., in thin film transistors or on cross sections of functional solar cells. Quantitative

• mode; AM off resonance; AM second eigenmode; cross section; crosstalk; field effect transistor; FM-KPFM; frequency modulation heterodyne; frequency modulation sideband; quantitative Kelvin probe force microscopy; solar cells; Introduction In this study, we compare the most commonly used amplitude

• electric potential landscape with local topographic information. Thus, KPFM is ideally suited to characterize of a variety of nanostructured semiconducting systems such as electronic devices [1] and solar cells [2]. To understand and improve the charge carrier generation and extraction within a solar cell

Direct AFM-based nanoscale mapping and tomography of open-circuit voltages for photovoltaics

• Katherine Atamanuk,
• Justin Luria and
• Bryan D. Huey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1802–1808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.171

• including many sensor and solar cell designs. For thin film solar cells such as CdTe, the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current are especially critical performance indicators, often varying between and even within individual grains. A new method for directly mapping the open-circuit voltage

• and ensemble photovoltaic performance. Furthermore, direct open-circuit voltage mapping is compatible with tomographic AFM, which additionally leverages gradual nanoscale milling by the AFM probe essentially for serial sectioning. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional results for CdTe solar cells

• performance; solar cell; tomographic AFM; Introduction Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) is an inexpensive thin-film photovoltaic with ca. 5% of the 2017 global market share for solar cells. To optimize the efficiency and reliability of these, or any electronic devices, a thorough understanding of their composition

Uniform cobalt nanoparticles embedded in hexagonal mesoporous nanoplates as a magnetically separable, recyclable adsorbent

• Can Zhao,
• Yuexiao Song,
• Tianyu Xiang,
• Wenxiu Qu,
• Shuo Lou,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Feng Xin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1770–1781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.168

• Can Zhao Yuexiao Song Tianyu Xiang Wenxiu Qu Shuo Lou Xiaohong Yin Feng Xin School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China Tianjin Key Laboratory of Organic Solar Cells and Photochemical Conversion, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin

Multimodal noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of organolead tribromide perovskite single crystals

• Yann Almadori,
• David Moerman,
• Jaume Llacer Martinez,
• Philippe Leclère and
• Benjamin Grévin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1695–1704, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.161

• small-molecule bulk-heterojunction solar cells [32], and have been recently explained by considering the contribution of interface recombination processes [33]. More precisely, this recent model predicts that slopes lower than the thermal voltage can be observed in the presence of surface recombination

• Solar Cells by Complementary Characterization Techniques (StableNextSol)”. D.M. is grateful to FRS-FNRS for a post-doctoral fellowship. Ph.L. is a Senior Research Associate of FRS-FNRS (Belgium).

Photoluminescence of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots in nematic liquid crystals in electric fields

• Margarita A. Kurochkina,
• Elena A. Konshina and
• Daria Khmelevskaia

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1544–1549, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.145

• demonstrate unique properties such as high quantum yield, narrow symmetric luminescence peak and high photostability, which are used in optical molecular sensor systems [1], bioanalysis [2], solar cells [3][4], and light-emitting devices [5]. The application of external electric fields to semiconductor NPs

Absence of free carriers in silicon nanocrystals grown from phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon-rich oxide and oxynitride

• Daniel Hiller,
• Julian López-Vidrier,
• Keita Nomoto,
• Michael Wahl,
• Wolfgang Bock,
• Tomáš Chlouba,
• František Trojánek,
• Sebastian Gutsch,
• Margit Zacharias,
• Dirk König,
• Petr Malý and
• Michael Kopnarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1501–1511, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.141

• efficient impurity doping of Si nanovolumes and complicate applications of Si NCs in devices based on p–n-junctions such as solar cells or light emitting devices [5][6]. Furthermore, semiconductor device fabrication technology nodes target the sub-10 nm scale in the near future, i.e., length scales where

Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide with chitosan based on the coordination deposition method

• Mingyang Liu,
• Yanjun Chen,
• Chaoran Qin,
• Zheng Zhang,
• Shuai Ma,
• Xiuru Cai,
• Xueqian Li and
• Yifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.111

• and good adsorption capacity [1][2].Graphene has a diverse range of applications in solar cells, hydrogen storage materials, electroluminescent devices and electrode materials [3][4][5]. In particular, graphene or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and biopolymer (e.g., gellan gum, chitosan, and alginate

Semi-automatic spray pyrolysis deposition of thin, transparent, titania films as blocking layers for dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells

• Hana Krýsová,
• Josef Krýsa and
• Ladislav Kavan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1135–1145, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.105

• function of the negative electrode of dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells, the deposition of a nonporous blocking film is required on the surface of F-doped SnO2 (FTO) glass substrates. Such a blocking film can minimise undesirable parasitic processes, for example, the back reaction of photoinjected

• properties that were not influenced by post-calcination. These results will surely find use in the fabrication of large-scale dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells. Keywords: blocking films; FTO; solar cells; spray pyrolysis deposition; titanium dioxide; Introduction Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs

• ), solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (SSDSSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are attractive alternatives to solid state photovoltaics at competitive cost. The general concept of a DSSC is based on a liquid junction photo-electrochemical cell with a nanocrystalline TiO2 photoanode that is

P3HT:PCBM blend films phase diagram on the base of variable-temperature spectroscopic ellipsometry

• Barbara Hajduk,
• Henryk Bednarski,
• Bożena Jarząbek,
• Henryk Janeczek and
• Paweł Nitschke

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1108–1115, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.102

• ][2][3]. Their properties are widely reported in literature [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Usually the OPV devices are constructed as sandwich structures with active layers located between cathode and anode. The most extensively studied and characterized OPV devices are bulk solar cells, with the

• donor P3HT and the acceptor PCBM. Such solar cells can be fabricated from mixed P3HT and PCBM solutions deposited on transparent electrodes by spin-coating [13][14]. Besides, bulk solar cells based on P3HT and PCBM blends became the benchmark for comparisons with maximum values of reported power

Theoretical study of strain-dependent optical absorption in a doped self-assembled InAs/InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dot

• Tarek A. Ameen,
• Hesameddin Ilatikhameneh,
• Archana Tankasala,
• Yuling Hsueh,
• James Charles,
• Jim Fonseca,
• Michael Povolotskyi,
• Jun Oh Kim,
• Sanjay Krishna,
• Monica S. Allen,
• Jeffery W. Allen,
• Rajib Rahman and
• Gerhard Klimeck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1075–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.99

• intermediate-band solar cells (IBSCs) [3][4]. The optical properties of quantum dots (QDs) can be tuned through shape, dimensions and composition of the dots making them attractive for optoelectronic applications. Moreover, their sensitivity to normally incident light make them advantageous over other

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• creating enhanced Earth-based astronomical telescopes with adaptive optics and magnetic mirrors with the shape-shifting capability made up of ferrofluids [38][39]. TiO2 NPs are commercially used in solar cells with dye-sensitization ability [40]. In summer 2012, Logitech brought an external iPad keyboard

• powered by light on the market, representing the first major commercial use of dye-sensitized solar cells. In 2005, Abraxane™, which is a human serum albumin NP material containing paclitaxel, was manufactured, commercialized and released in the pharmaceutical market [41]. In 2014, there were about 1814

Electro-optical interfacial effects on a graphene/π-conjugated organic semiconductor hybrid system

• Karolline A. S. Araujo,
• Luiz A. Cury,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Thales F. D. Fernandes,
• Luiz G. Cançado and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 963–974, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.90

• microscopy; self-assembly; Introduction Organic semiconductors offer a wide range of possible applications, from thin-film transistors to sensors and solar cells [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Their optical and electronic properties are strongly linked to intermolecular interaction parameters associated with molecular

• -doped graphene. The most stable structure α (Figure 2) leads to a charge density of 1.10 × 1013 cm−2 (1.17 × 1013 cm−2) which was estimated via Mulliken population analysis (Hirshfeld method) [19][20][21]. Retinoic acid is a well-known dye molecule with potential applications in solar cells [22][23][24