Organic Solar Photovoltaic Cells: Synthesis of Indium Tin Oxide using Sol-Gel Method

  • Authors

    • S Shanmuga Priya
    • Stijn Ruts
    • SVSR Krishna Bandaru
    2018-11-27
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.19.27966
  • Organic Solar Photovoltaic cells, Indium Tin oxide, Dye-sensitized solar cell, DNA cholorphyll layer.

  • Solar cells are a solution for the demand for clean and non-pollutant energy. The first two generations of solar cells were costly and bulky, or with rare metals. The third generation are thin films with a polymer or natural dye as active layer. The active layer materials are common in use and non-polluting. A side for the active layer, other layer must be implanted to make the circuit complete and let electrons flow trough. This work focusses on the production of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) which act as a transparent conductive electrode.  The ITO will be placed in a dye-sensitized solar cell consisting of DNA-chlorophyll active layer. The focus is on the production process of the ITO using the sol-gel method. The precursors that are used are InCl3, SnCl4 and NH3 solutions. To obtain the sols for thin film preparation, the Sn-doped indium hydroxide needs to be dialyzed, aged, and dispersed in ethanol. Then calcination has to be done for preparing proper ITO. When spin coated in to a thin film characterisation can be done like X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and UV-Vis and near IR spectroscopy. The thin film can be placed in a DNA-chlorophyll as an active layer. After reviewing the simple structure of electrodes and active layer, some hole transmitting layers or electron transmitting layers to reduce the losses. The overall solar cell can be tested and the efficiency will be determined.

     

  • References

    1. [1] B. Walker, H. Choi, J.Y. Kim, Interfacial engineering for highly efficient organic solar cells, Current Applied Physics (2017)

      [2] Kőrösi, László, Szilvia Papp, and Imre Dékány. Preparation of transparent conductive indium tin oxide thin films fromnanocrystalline indium tin hydroxide by dip-coating method."Thin Solid Films 519.10 (2011): 3113-3118.

      [3] Kőrösi, László, et al. Low-temperature sintering behavior of nanocrystalline indium tin oxide prepared from polymer-containing sols. Materials Research Bulletin 47.4 (2012): 933-940.

      [4] Neault, J. F., and H. A. Tajmir-Riahi. Structural analysis of DNA-chlorophyll complexes by Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy. Biophysical journal 76.4 (1999): 2177-2182.

      [5] Lee, T. D., & Ebong, A. U. (2017). A review of thin film solar cell technologies and challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 1286-1297.

      [6] Conibeer, G. (2007). Third-generation photovoltaics. Materials today, 10(11), 42-50.

      [7] Liu, Xuxu, Huajie Chen, and Songting Tan. Overview of high-efficiency organic photovoltaic materials and devices. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 52 (2015): 1527-1538.

      [8] Chu, A. K., et al. "High-resistivity sol-gel ITO thin film as an interfacial buffer layer for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells." Organic Electronics 46 (2017): 99-104.

      [9] Gwamuri, J., Vora, A., Khanal, R. R., Phillips, A. B., Heben, M. J., Guney, D. O., ... & Pearce, J. M. (2015). Limitations of ultra-thin transparent conducting oxides for integration into plasmonic-enhanced thin-film solar photovoltaic devices. Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 4(3), 12.

      [10] Hoerner, Lucas J. Photosynthetic solar cells using chlorophyll and the applications towards energy sustainability. Diss. University of South Florida St. Petersburg, 2013.

      [11] Beratan, David N., Satyam Priyadarshy, and Steven M. Risser. "DNA: insulator or wire?." Chemistry & biology 4.1 (1997): 3-8.

      [12] Neault, J. F., and H. A. Tajmir-Riahi. "Structural analysis of DNA-chlorophyll complexes by Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy." Biophysical journal 76.4 (1999): 2177-2182.

      [13] Singh, Arjun, Monica Katiyar, and Ashish Garg. "Understanding the formation of PEDOT: PSS films by ink-jet printing for organic solar cell applications." RSC Advances 5.96 (2015): 78677-78685.

      [14] Zhao, Zhiheng, et al. "PEDOT-based composites as electrode materials for supercapacitors." Nanotechnology 27.4 (2015): 042001.

      [15] Hu, L., Wu, F., Li, C., Hu, A., Hu, X., Zhang, Y., ... & Chen, Y. (2015). Alcohol-soluble n-type conjugated polyelectrolyte as electron transport layer for polymer solar cells. Macromolecules, 48(16), 5578-5586.

      [16] Stević, Z., Radovanović, I., RajÄić-Vujasinović, M., Bugarinović, S., & Grekulović, V. (2013). Synthesis and characterization of specific electrode materials for solar cells and supercapacitors. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 5(4), 041816.

      [17] Tang, Hongjie, et al. "Two-dimensional carbon leading to new photoconversion processes." Chemical Society Reviews 43.13 (2014): 4281-4299.

      [18] Stokes, Debbie J. (2008). Principles and Practice of Variable Pressure Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (VP-ESEM). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Shanmuga Priya, S., Ruts, S., & Krishna Bandaru, S. (2018). Organic Solar Photovoltaic Cells: Synthesis of Indium Tin Oxide using Sol-Gel Method. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(4.19), 596-599. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i4.19.27966