The University of Western Ontario

Chengdu Ark Eternity Photovoltaic Technology Company Limited

Zhifeng Ding

Jun Yang

Dave Love

Mohammad Harati

Amy Tapley

Daniel Vaccarello

Leo Lau

Falong Jia

Myong In Oh

David Anthony Love

A one-pot approach for preparing ArSH capped CuZnSnS, CuZnSn(SSe), CuSnS, CuInS, and CuIn(SSe)nanocrystals is provided. Examples involving reacting copper (II) acetylacetonate and indium chloride with thiourea and 2-mercapto-5-n-propylpyrimidine in the presence of an organic solvent are described. Monodispersed CuInS, nanocrystals having a size of about 100 nm were prepared. Examples involving reacting copper (II) acetylacetonate, zinc chloride, and tin chloride with thiourea and 2-mercapto-5-n-propylpyrimidine in the presence of an organic solvent are described. Monodispersed CuZnSnSnanocrystals having a size of about 2 nm were prepared. Nanociystals obtained were found to have excellent crystallinity, stoichiometry, and high collective photovoltaic activity without the need for postprocessing such as high temperature annihilation in a sulfur atmosphere.

Copper-containing nanocrystals and methods of preparation therefor

The present invention describes a method of producing a photovoltaic solar cell with stoichiometric p-type copper indium gallium diselenide (CuInGaSe) (abbreviated CIGS) as its absorber layer and II-IV semiconductor layers as the n-type layers with electrodeposition of all these layers. The method comprises a sequence of novel procedures and electrodeposition conditions with an ionic liquid approach to overcome the technical challenges in the field for low-cost and large-area production of CIGS solar cells with the following innovative advantages over the prior art: (a) low-cost and large-area electrodeposition of CIGS in one pot with no requirement of post-deposition thermal sintering or selenization; (b) low-cost and large-area electrodeposition of n-type II-VI semiconductors for the completion of the CIGS solar cell production; and (c) low-cost and large-area deposition of a buffer layer of CdS or other compounds with a simple chemical bath method.

Electrochemical method of producing copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells

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London, Canada

Zhifeng Ding