Novel Materials for Photovoltaic Technologies: Preprint Page: 4 of 8
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Nano/molecular composites and hierarchical structures
One of the greatest areas of opportunity in novel photovoltaics arises from
developments in the physics and chemistry of nanometer scale components. Over the last
decade there have been dramatic improvements in our understanding of the physical
properties of nanocrystals, nanotubes, and nanorods; in parallel, there has been a great
deal of progress in methods for the preparation and assembly of these objects into
functional assemblies. Photovoltaics based upon the assembly of nanometer scale
components may be advantageous for the following reasons:
1. Charge generation and separation take place on the nanometer scale, and thus
assembly of components on the same length scale may permit detailed tailoring of
properties;
2. Size dependent scaling laws allow for control of fundamental properties, for instance
the optical density is enhanced in small semiconductor particles, as compared to the
bulk, due to quantum confinement effects;
3. The use of nanoscale components can lead to many of the advantages observed in
MBE grown systems (tandem cells), but with very inexpensive processing. Isolated
nanoscale building blocks can be produced cheaply, with almost no defects;
Nanoscale components can be compatible with the elimination of toxic materials, and
processing of large areas at low temperature.
There are several indications that these ideas are reasonable. Foremost among these
is the recent development of the Graetzel cell, which is inexpensively assembled from
nanoscale components, and which displays an efficiency of 10-12%. In this cell, the
individual components are assembled in a crude manner, and there is a great deal that
could be gained by further systematic design. For instance, well-defined nanorods of two
different semiconductors could be assembled in bundles, so that charge separation can
take place at the interface between the rods, and then the individual charges can be
conducted along the rods to the appropriate electrodes. By stacking layers of such
devices, each layer with a different diameter of rod, a multi-band gap cell could be
constructed, due to the quantum size effect.2
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Alivisatos, P.; Carter, S.; Ginley, D.; Nozik, A.; Meyer, G. & Rosenthal, S. Novel Materials for Photovoltaic Technologies: Preprint, article, April 1, 1999; Golden, Colorado. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc723355/m1/4/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.