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Low Cost Solar Cells to Enable Global Uptake of This Promising Technology

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Low Cost Solar Cells to Enable Global Uptake of This Promising Technology Fabrication and Characterisation of a Nanocrystal Activated Schottky Barrier Solar Cell Philippa Kate Hardy Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as part of the integrated MSc/PhD in Low Carbon Technologies The University of Leeds Energy Research Institute School of Process, Environment and Materials Engineering Doctoral Training Centre in Low Carbon Technologies November, 2014 i The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own, except where work which has formed part of jointly authored publications has been included. The contribution of the candidate and the other authors to this work has been explicitly indicated below. The candidate confirms that appropriate credit has been given within the thesis where reference has been made to the work of others. Chapter 4, 5 and 6 includes the following work; Philippa Hardy, Robert Mitchell, Ross Jarett, Richard Douthwaite and Rolf Crook, Nanocrystal Activated Schottky Barrier PV Cell, Proceedings from PVSAT-9, Wales, UK, 9-11th April 2013. The work detailed within this paper was all the candidates own with the guidance of Dr Rolf Crook, with the exception of the following; Ross Jarett who produced the silver nanowires, Robert Mitchell and Richard Douthwaite who produced the CdS and CdSe nanocrystals. Chapter 5 includes the following work; Philippa Hardy and Rolf Crook, A Nanocrystal Test Bed for Excitonic Photovoltaic Cells, Proceedings from PVSAT-7, Edinburgh, UK, 6-8th April 2011. The work detailed within this paper was all the candidates own with the guidance of Dr Rolf Crook. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Philippa Hardy to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2014 The University of Leeds and Philippa Hardy ii Acknowledgements This PhD has been the longest and most difficult journey I have ever embarked on and would simply not have been possible without the time, support and help from many people. Thanks must start with my supervisor, Dr Rolf Crook, for all the meetings, answering my endless questions and demanding high quality research, this PhD definitely would not have been possible without your help and guidance. Thanks to my secondary supervisors Professor Rik Brydson and Dr Tim Foxon, for being available to meet and guide me with certain aspects of the project. Thanks to Professor Paul Williams, James McKay and the DTC for selecting me as one of the lucky six, funding me through this adventure and for the extra opportunities - I’ve very much enjoyed being part of the DTC. There are many other people that provided academic support, resources and time, including; Dr Chandra Malvi and the staff at MITS for the research project in India, Li Chen for evaporating my samples, the Mechanical Engineering workshop for saving me from hand-sawing anymore titanium, Ross Jarrett for making silver nanowires, the LEMAS team – John, Stuart and Richard - for training and impromptu support, Dr Jay Wadhawan and Yan Zhou at the University of Hull for the silver electrodepositing placement, Robert Mitchell and Richard Douthwaite from the University of York for providing nanocrystals and Matthew Booth from Physics at the University of Leeds for providing nanocrystals. Thanks also to the solar group - Graham, Dave, Ross and Chris – I can’t begin to imagine what the lab would have been like without all of you. Finally thanks to PVSAT for the paper award. I would also like to especially thank the first cohort and my very good friends, Hannah, Sam, Gilli, Tom (and honorary members Z and Joel) for being in it together. Thanks for making me challenge myself, inspiring me, and your endless support - I thoroughly enjoyed all the hours spent crying and laughing and I would do it all again. A special thanks to my Zen Shem for everything, I can’t put into one sentence exactly how much of an amazing friend, teacher, councillor and partner you’ve been over the last few years and I don’t think one thank you here will ever cover it. Thanks also to the rest of the DTC who have made my working environment for the last 4 years very stimulating and an exciting place full of personal and world change. Thanks is also due to all of my friends outside of the PhD world for putting up with my hippy ways, supporting me and always being there, I’m very happy to have you all in my life, in particular Emma, Alexis and the aviation boys, Nicky & Veena, Ed, Emma & Lucy. Last but not least thanks to my family for their everlasting love and support – Mum, Dad, Vic & Lee, Ness and Dom. iii Abstract Climate change is a reality and a move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies is an essential part of mitigation efforts. Photovoltaics (PV) provide a way to generate clean and renewable energy from a ubiquitous source. Despite this, fossil fuels are still deeply entrenched in the global energy system, in part due to their low cost. Silicon solar cells currently dominate the PV market, however, their levelised cost is relatively high compared to other energy technologies. Therefore, if PV is to achieve its full potential, there is a need to develop low cost solar cells to enable global uptake of this promising technology. The aim of this research was to demonstrate a nanocrystal (NC) activated Schottky barrier solar cell fabricated using relatively ambient processes. Ti film was anodised or thermally oxidised and the Schottky barrier was subsequently formed at the interface between TiO2 and the noble metal, Au, Ag, or Pt, which were sputtered, evaporated or dropcast in nanowire (NW) form. In the absence of activating nanocrystals, the Schottky barrier functions as an efficient cell but only for UV light due to the wide band gap of TiO2. Nanocrystals with a narrower band gap were deposited on the Schottky barrier to extend the response into the visible region. The cells fabricated with Ag NWs and Pt provided the largest Schottky barrier heights of 1.02 eV and 1 eV respectively. The Pt device obtained the largest UV photoresponse of 390 μAcm-2 and 721 mV at 330 nm, and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 18% at 330 nm. The Pt and AgNW cells were subsequently activated with CdS, CdSe, CuO, CuInS2 and CdTe NCs. The CdS-NC/Pt, CdS-NC/Ag-NW, and CuInS2-NC/Ag-NW devices, in particular, provided proof-of-concept, generating a UV photoresponse from the TiO2 and a visible photoresponse from the NCs consistent with the respective band gaps. The optimum EQE measured for the CdS-NC/Pt device was 0.04% at 470 nm. Hence, this work demonstrates the NC activated Schottky barrier solar cell and provides a possible low cost fabrication route for future development. iv v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... v List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi Appendix ........................................................................................................................ xxii Chapter 1 An Introduction to Photovoltaics ....................................................................... 1 1.1 Current solar cells - room for improvement ...................................................... 2 1.1.1 Life cycle emissions ................................................................................. 2 1.1.2 Solar cell production cost ........................................................................ 2 1.1.3 Levelised cost of PV ................................................................................ 3 1.1.4 Efficiency ................................................................................................ 3 1.1.5 Future development ............................................................................... 3 1.2 Alternative solar cell technology ...................................................................... 4 1.2.1 Second generation solar cells .................................................................. 4 1.2.2 Third generation solar cells ..................................................................... 4 1.3 The use of nanotechnology for solar cells ......................................................... 5 1.3.1 Life cycle emission reductions ................................................................. 5 1.3.2 Reduced manufacturing cost .................................................................. 6 1.3.3 Increasing efficiency ............................................................................... 6 1.4 Nanocrystal-activated Schottky barrier solar cell .............................................. 6 1.4.1 Research aims and objectives ................................................................. 7 1.5 Outline of thesis ............................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2 Background on PV Technology Developments
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