Hybrid Solar Cells of Pyrite-Based/Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Core/Shell Nanowires

Retana Betancourt, María Fernanda (2021) Hybrid Solar Cells of Pyrite-Based/Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Core/Shell Nanowires. Doctorado thesis, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.

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Resumen

Purpose and Study Method: Iron pyrite (FeS2) is a candidate semiconductor in the development of high efficiency photovoltaic devices. A real commercialization of solar cells leads to fabricate photovoltaic devices of earth-abundant and low-cost materials. The FeS2 shows strong optical and electrical properties for solar energy application. Although the highest efficiency for a pyrite-based hybrid solar cell is 3%. The poor performance of the hybrid solar cells is explained by surface passivation and the presence of isomorphs. Raised strategies involve the coupling with wide-bandgapinorganic semiconductor (ZnO) to form p-n heterojunction while the coupling with conducting polymers (Poly(3-hexylthiophene) can form a donor-acceptor interface increasing optical and electrical properties. Therefore, it is the aim of this work the synthesis of photoactive materials of FeS2, ZnO and the polymeric matrix of poly(3-hexylthiophene) in order to study their optical, structural and morphological behavior for their potential application in hybrid solar cells. Contributions and Conclusions: One-dimensional poly(3-hexylthiophene) and ZnO thin films were obtained by electrochemical method. The electrochemical parameters influence the morphology and sizes tuning the optical properties, which it enables to obtain multifunctional nanomaterials. The conversion of nanorods into a tubular morphology is possible due to the defects and metastability of ZnO. The hollow structures allow the coupling with FeS2 nanoparticles and offer the possibility to increase the optical absorption due to the high surface area and exciton confinement. The iron pyrite nanoparticles were obtained using complexing agents for the very first time. Air-stable FeS2 show stability for 21 days without special storage conditions. The semiconductors obtained exhibit suitable optical, structural and morphological properties for solar energy conversion.

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