University of California

Matthew Law

Peidong Yang

Sean Seefeld

James Puthussery

Hannes Kind

Haoquan Yan

Lori E Greene

Benjamin Messer

Amanda S Weber

Rong Fan

Rongrui He

Franklin Kim

Systems and methods are provided for the fabrication and manufacture of efficient, low-cost p-n heterojunction pyrite solar cells. The p-n heterojunction pyrite solar cells can include a pyrite thin cell component, a window layer component, and a top surface contact component. The pyrite thin cell component can be fabricated from nanocrystal paint deposited onto metal foils or microcrystalline pyrite deposited onto foil by chemical vapor deposition. A method of synthesizing colloidal pyrite nanocrystals is provided. Methods of manufacturing the efficient, low-cost p-n heterojunction pyrite solar cells are also provided.

[object Object]

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating pyrite thin films from molecular inks. A process is provided that comprises dissolving simple iron-bearing and sulfur-bearing molecules in an appropriate solvent and then depositing the solution onto an appropriate substrate using one of several methods (roll-to-roll coating, spraying, spin coating, etc.), resulting in a solid film consisting of the molecules. These molecular precursor films are then heated to 200-600&#xb0; C. in the presence of sulfur-bearing gases (e.g., S, HS) to convert the molecular films into films of crystalline iron pyrite (FeS).

Iron pyrite thin films from molecular inks

Homogeneous and dense arrays of nanowires are described. The nanowires can be formed in solution and can have average diameters of 40-300 nm and lengths of 1-3 &#x3bc;m. They can be formed on any suitable substrate. Photovoltaic devices are also described.

Nanowire array and nanowire solar cells and methods for forming the same

A two-layer nanotape that includes a nanoribbon substrate and an oxide that is epitaxially deposited on a flat surface of the nanoribbon substrate is described. The oxide is deposited on the substrate using a pulsed laser ablation deposition process. The nanoribbons can be made from materials such as SnO, ZnO, MgO, AlO, Si, GaN, or CdS. Also, the sintered oxide target can be made from materials such as TiO, transition metal doped TiO(e.g., COTiO), BaTiO, ZnO, transition metal doped ZnO (e.g., MnZnO and NiZnO), LaMnO, BaTiO, PbTiO, YBaCuO, or SrCuOand other p-type oxides. Additionally, temperature sensitive nanoribbon/metal bilayers and their method of fabrication by thermal evaporation are described. Metals such as Cu, Au, Ti, Al, Pt, Ni and others can be deposited on top of the nanoribbon surface. Such devices bend significantly as a function of temperature and are suitable as, for example, thermally activated nanoscale actuators.

Functional bimorph composite nanotapes and methods of fabrication

A nanowire switching device and method. The device has a nanowire structure comprising an elongated member having a cross-sectional area ranging from about 1 nanometers but less than about 500 nanometers, but can also be at other dimensions, which vary or are substantially constant or any combination of these. The device also has a first terminal coupled to a first portion of the nanowire structure; and a second terminal coupled to a second portion of the nanowire structure. The second portion of the nanowire structure is disposed spatially from the first portion of the nanowire structure. An active surface structure is coupled to the nanowire structure. The active surface structure extends from the first portion to the second portion along the elongated member.

Growing community of inventors

Berkeley, CA, United States of America

Matthew Law