WO2010071672A1 - Vapour deposited planar pv cell - Google Patents
Vapour deposited planar pv cell Download PDFInfo
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- WO2010071672A1 WO2010071672A1 PCT/US2009/006484 US2009006484W WO2010071672A1 WO 2010071672 A1 WO2010071672 A1 WO 2010071672A1 US 2009006484 W US2009006484 W US 2009006484W WO 2010071672 A1 WO2010071672 A1 WO 2010071672A1
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- Prior art keywords
- layer
- active layers
- planar active
- planar
- deposited
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- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
- C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
- C23C16/00—Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes
- C23C16/44—Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes characterised by the method of coating
- C23C16/455—Chemical coating by decomposition of gaseous compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating, i.e. chemical vapour deposition [CVD] processes characterised by the method of coating characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber
- C23C16/45523—Pulsed gas flow or change of composition over time
- C23C16/45525—Atomic layer deposition [ALD]
- C23C16/45544—Atomic layer deposition [ALD] characterized by the apparatus
- C23C16/45548—Atomic layer deposition [ALD] characterized by the apparatus having arrangements for gas injection at different locations of the reactor for each ALD half-reaction
- C23C16/45551—Atomic layer deposition [ALD] characterized by the apparatus having arrangements for gas injection at different locations of the reactor for each ALD half-reaction for relative movement of the substrate and the gas injectors or half-reaction reactor compartments
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01G—CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES, LIGHT-SENSITIVE OR TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE DEVICES OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE
- H01G9/00—Electrolytic capacitors, rectifiers, detectors, switching devices, light-sensitive or temperature-sensitive devices; Processes of their manufacture
- H01G9/20—Light-sensitive devices
- H01G9/2027—Light-sensitive devices comprising an oxide semiconductor electrode
- H01G9/2031—Light-sensitive devices comprising an oxide semiconductor electrode comprising titanium oxide, e.g. TiO2
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01G—CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES, LIGHT-SENSITIVE OR TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE DEVICES OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE
- H01G9/00—Electrolytic capacitors, rectifiers, detectors, switching devices, light-sensitive or temperature-sensitive devices; Processes of their manufacture
- H01G9/20—Light-sensitive devices
- H01G9/2059—Light-sensitive devices comprising an organic dye as the active light absorbing material, e.g. adsorbed on an electrode or dissolved in solution
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
- H01L21/02104—Forming layers
- H01L21/02107—Forming insulating materials on a substrate
- H01L21/02225—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer
- H01L21/0226—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process
- H01L21/02263—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process deposition from the gas or vapour phase
- H01L21/02271—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process deposition from the gas or vapour phase deposition by decomposition or reaction of gaseous or vapour phase compounds, i.e. chemical vapour deposition
- H01L21/0228—Forming insulating materials on a substrate characterised by the process for the formation of the insulating layer formation by a deposition process deposition from the gas or vapour phase deposition by decomposition or reaction of gaseous or vapour phase compounds, i.e. chemical vapour deposition deposition by cyclic CVD, e.g. ALD, ALE, pulsed CVD
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
- Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
- Y02E10/542—Dye sensitized solar cells
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
- Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product
Definitions
- the invention relates generally to the field of photovoltaic cells, in particular to a process of manufacturing photovoltaic cells.
- Conventional dye-sensitized solar cells as described by Gratzel consist of a transparent conducting substrate such as ITO, on top of which is a dye sensitised layer of sintered titanium dioxide nanoparticles (the anode).
- a hole transporting electrolyte which typically contains an iodide/tri-iodide redox couple as the electron (or hole) transfer agent is placed within the pores of and on top of this layer.
- the solar cell sandwich is completed by putting on top of the electrolyte a catalytic conducting electrode, often made with platinum as the catalyst (the cathode). When light is shone on the cell, the dye is excited and an electron is injected into the titania structure.
- the excited, now positively charged dye oxidises the reduced form of the redox couple in the electrolyte to its oxidised form e.g. iodide goes to tri-iodide. This may now diffuse towards the platinum electrode.
- the electrons from the anode pass through the load to the cathode and at the cathode the oxidised form of the redox couple is reduced e.g. tri-iodide to iodide, completing the reaction.
- the process of creating the titanium dioxide anode can be complex and traditionally involves a high temperature sintering step.
- the present invention overcomes this by using a vapour deposition method to deposit planar layers. This removes the need for any sintering step resulting in simplified manufacturing as well as material cost savings as the layers are 1-lOOOnm thick compared to several microns thick in conventional dye-sensitised solar cells.
- a second issue surrounds the use of the liquid or gelled electrolyte in the conventional dye-sensitised solar cell resulting in containment issues, hi this invention the traditional electrolyte is replaced with a solid state electrolyte. This opens up the possibility of a more consistent set of manufacturing processes.
- US2008/0092946 discloses the use of atomic layer deposition ALD as a means of coating p-type semiconductor over a 'sensitised' titania structure, particularly for extremely thin absorber cells. Since not stated otherwise the ALD coating process is likely a vacuum based process with the associated cost and complexity issues. Furthermore this coating process is chosen because of the ability to conformally coat over a nanotextured surface. The present invention is concerned with coating a planar active layer.
- US2008/0072961 discloses ALD as a means of coating active semiconductor(s) in an all inorganic photovoltaic devices, e.g. TiO 2
- US2008/0110494 discloses the use of ALD as a possible route to conformally coat an active layer of Si or Ge hole conductor over Qdot sensitised titania.
- vapour deposition process By using a vapour deposition process to create the thin film active layers for a PV device, a low cost roll to roll manufacturing process can be achieved.
- the need to sinter the anode to bring the particles into intimate contact with each other is also removed as the material deposited by vapour processes is not particulate, hi addition, by using a solid state electrolyte, any containment issues encountered when using a traditional liquid electrolyte are overcome.
- a method of laying down one or more planar active layers of an opto-elelectronic device onto a substrate the device further comprising a sensitising layer and a hole transporting layer, the one or more planar active layers being deposited by vapour deposition.
- vapour deposition method to deposit planar layers removes the need for any sintering step resulting in simplified manufacturing as well as material cost savings as the vapour deposited layers are 1-lOOOnm thick instead of several microns thick in conventional dye sensitised solar cells.
- Figure 1 is a graph illustrating the effect of the AP-ALD TiO 2 layer on dark current.
- the active layers of a thin film planar PV cell are fabricated by AP-ALD (atmospheric pressure atomic layer deposition) where the active layer(s) can include the semiconductor materials that form the anode.
- AP-ALD atmospheric pressure atomic layer deposition
- the planar active layer is deposited by simultaneously directing a series of gas flows along elongated channels such that the gas flows are substantially parallel to a surface of a substrate and substantially parallel to each other.
- the gas flows are substantially prevented from flowing in the direction of the adjacent elongated channels and the series of gas flows comprises, in order, at least a first reactive gaseous material, inert purge gas, and a second reactive gaseous material, optionally repeated a plurality of times.
- the first reactive gaseous material is capable of reacting with a substrate surface treated with the second reactive gaseous material when there is movement of the substrate relative to the series of elongated channels of at least 0.1 cm/sec.
- the structure of such a planar PV cell includes a very thin (approximately 1- 5nm) titanium dioxide layer deposited from reacting titanium tetrachloride with water on the surface of the electrode from an AP-ALD device. On top of this is deposited a thicker layer of zinc oxide by reacting diethyl zinc with water.
- the zinc oxide layer would preferably be 1-lOOOnm thick, more preferably 2-500nm thick and even more preferably 80-200nm thick. It is suggested that any vapour phase deposition method could be used, although the examples have used ALD and more specifically atmospheric pressure ALD. This process provides a low cost roll to roll method of solar cell manufacture.
- the thin film layers were sensitised using an organometallic ruthenium dye and a solid state p-type hole conductor (e.g. copper iodide) was applied to the surface of the layers.
- a solid state p-type hole conductor e.g. copper iodide
- Example 1 The effect of combining an AP-ALD TiO 2 layer with an AP-ALD ZnO layer
- Table 1 AP-ALD conditions used to deposit 18nm ZnO layer
- a layer of AP-ALD ZnO approximately 20nm thick was deposited using the conditions shown in Table 1. Each glass slide was then used to fabricate a dye sensitised solar cell. The layers were sensitised by placing them in a 3XlO "4 mol dm "3 ethanolic solution of ruthenium cis-bis-isothiocyanato bis(2,2'bipyridyl-4,4'dicarboxylic acid) overnight.
- sensitised cells were then placed on a hotplate and a solid state electrolyte was deposited from an applied saturated solution of copper (I) iodide which comprised: 0.066M CuI
- a 25nm gold electrode was evaporated on top of the cell using a Moorfield Minilab T60M evaporator.
- the solar cells were characterised by placing them under a source that artificially replicated the solar spectrum in the visible region to provide an illumination of 1.0 sun.
- the data in Table 3 shows the open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (Isc) that was achieved with these cells, which were approximately 1 cm 2 active area.
- Table 3 The effect of the presence of the AP-ALD TiO 2 layer on cell performance
- Figure 1 demonstrates that the presence of the 5nm AP-ALD TiO 2 layer below the 18nm AP-ALD ZnO layer results in a higher voltage required before current will flow in the opposite direction due to recombination back reactions.
- Example 2 Effect of thickness of AP-ALD ZnO layer
- Cell C was fabricated using exactly the same method as described above for cell B, except the thickness of the AP-ALD ZnO layer on top of the 5nm AP- ALD TiO 2 layer was increased to 90nm.
- Table 4 AP-ALD conditions used to deposit 90nm ZnO layer
- the completed PV cell (C) was fabricated using the same process described in example 1. Solar cell C was then characterised by placing it under a source that artificially replicated the solar spectrum in the visible region to provide an illumination of 1.0 sun.
- the data in Table 5 shows the open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (Isc) that was achieved when the thickness of the AP- ALD ZnO layer was increased to 90nm. NB. Approximate cell active area for both cells is lcm 2 .
- Table 5 The effect of the presence of the AP-ALD TiO 2 layer on cell performance
- planar PV cells can be fabricated using a vapour deposition process to create the thin film active layers for a PV device.
- a solid state electrolyte any containment issues encountered when using a traditional liquid electrolyte are overcome.
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- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Materials Engineering (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Metallurgy (AREA)
- Organic Chemistry (AREA)
- Power Engineering (AREA)
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method of laying down one or more planar active layers of an opto-elelectronic device onto a substrate, the device further comprising a sensitising layer and a hole transporting layer, the one or more planar active layers being deposited by vapour deposition.
Description
VAPOUR DEPOSITED PLANAR PV CELL
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the field of photovoltaic cells, in particular to a process of manufacturing photovoltaic cells.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional dye-sensitized solar cells as described by Gratzel consist of a transparent conducting substrate such as ITO, on top of which is a dye sensitised layer of sintered titanium dioxide nanoparticles (the anode). A hole transporting electrolyte which typically contains an iodide/tri-iodide redox couple as the electron (or hole) transfer agent is placed within the pores of and on top of this layer. The solar cell sandwich is completed by putting on top of the electrolyte a catalytic conducting electrode, often made with platinum as the catalyst (the cathode). When light is shone on the cell, the dye is excited and an electron is injected into the titania structure. The excited, now positively charged dye oxidises the reduced form of the redox couple in the electrolyte to its oxidised form e.g. iodide goes to tri-iodide. This may now diffuse towards the platinum electrode. When the cell is connected to a load the electrons from the anode pass through the load to the cathode and at the cathode the oxidised form of the redox couple is reduced e.g. tri-iodide to iodide, completing the reaction.
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION
Several issues can be identified with the conventional dye-sensitised solar cell. The process of creating the titanium dioxide anode can be complex and traditionally involves a high temperature sintering step. The present invention overcomes this by using a vapour deposition method to deposit planar layers. This removes the need for any sintering step resulting in simplified manufacturing as well as material cost savings as the layers are 1-lOOOnm thick compared to several microns thick in conventional dye-sensitised solar cells.
A second issue surrounds the use of the liquid or gelled electrolyte in the conventional dye-sensitised solar cell resulting in containment issues, hi this invention the traditional electrolyte is replaced with a solid state electrolyte. This opens up the possibility of a more consistent set of manufacturing processes. US2008/0092946 discloses the use of atomic layer deposition ALD as a means of coating p-type semiconductor over a 'sensitised' titania structure, particularly for extremely thin absorber cells. Since not stated otherwise the ALD coating process is likely a vacuum based process with the associated cost and complexity issues. Furthermore this coating process is chosen because of the ability to conformally coat over a nanotextured surface. The present invention is concerned with coating a planar active layer.
US2008/0072961 discloses ALD as a means of coating active semiconductor(s) in an all inorganic photovoltaic devices, e.g. TiO2|CdTe extremely thin absorber type cell or the coating of layers of TiO2 and ZnO over a structure of carbon rods/tubes as the basis of a dye sensitised solar cell. Again this coating process is chosen because of the ability to conformally coat over a nanotextured surface, likely from a vacuum based ALD process.
Similarly US2008/0110494 discloses the use of ALD as a possible route to conformally coat an active layer of Si or Ge hole conductor over Qdot sensitised titania.
By using a vapour deposition process to create the thin film active layers for a PV device, a low cost roll to roll manufacturing process can be achieved. The need to sinter the anode to bring the particles into intimate contact with each other is also removed as the material deposited by vapour processes is not particulate, hi addition, by using a solid state electrolyte, any containment issues encountered when using a traditional liquid electrolyte are overcome.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a method of laying down one or more planar active layers of an opto-elelectronic device onto a
substrate, the device further comprising a sensitising layer and a hole transporting layer, the one or more planar active layers being deposited by vapour deposition.
ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION Using a vapour deposition method to deposit planar layers removes the need for any sintering step resulting in simplified manufacturing as well as material cost savings as the vapour deposited layers are 1-lOOOnm thick instead of several microns thick in conventional dye sensitised solar cells.
Using a solid state electrolyte removes the containment problems associated with liquid electrolytes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following drawing in which: Figure 1 is a graph illustrating the effect of the AP-ALD TiO2 layer on dark current.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION hi a preferred embodiment of the invention the active layers of a thin film planar PV cell are fabricated by AP-ALD (atmospheric pressure atomic layer deposition) where the active layer(s) can include the semiconductor materials that form the anode.
In atmospheric pressure atomic layer deposition the planar active layer is deposited by simultaneously directing a series of gas flows along elongated channels such that the gas flows are substantially parallel to a surface of a substrate and substantially parallel to each other. The gas flows are substantially prevented from flowing in the direction of the adjacent elongated channels and the series of gas flows comprises, in order, at least a first reactive gaseous material, inert purge gas, and a second reactive gaseous material, optionally repeated a plurality of times. The first reactive gaseous material is capable of reacting with a
substrate surface treated with the second reactive gaseous material when there is movement of the substrate relative to the series of elongated channels of at least 0.1 cm/sec.
The structure of such a planar PV cell includes a very thin (approximately 1- 5nm) titanium dioxide layer deposited from reacting titanium tetrachloride with water on the surface of the electrode from an AP-ALD device. On top of this is deposited a thicker layer of zinc oxide by reacting diethyl zinc with water. The zinc oxide layer would preferably be 1-lOOOnm thick, more preferably 2-500nm thick and even more preferably 80-200nm thick. It is suggested that any vapour phase deposition method could be used, although the examples have used ALD and more specifically atmospheric pressure ALD. This process provides a low cost roll to roll method of solar cell manufacture. To complete the cell fabrication, the thin film layers were sensitised using an organometallic ruthenium dye and a solid state p-type hole conductor (e.g. copper iodide) was applied to the surface of the layers. The cell is completed with an evaporated layer of conducting metal.
Example 1 - The effect of combining an AP-ALD TiO2 layer with an AP-ALD ZnO layer
To fabricate cell A, a piece of 10 Ω / square ITO-glass was taken and a layer of ZnO approximately 20nm thick was deposited onto the ITO layer using AP-ALD. The conditions used for the deposition are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: AP-ALD conditions used to deposit 18nm ZnO layer
To fabricate cell B, another piece of 10 Ω / square ITO-glass was taken and a layer of TiO2 approximately 5nm thick was deposited onto the ITO layer using AP-ALD. The conditions used for the deposition are shown in Table 2.
Table 2: AP-ALD conditions used to deposit 5nm TiO2 layer
Directly on top of the 5nm TiO2 layer, a layer of AP-ALD ZnO approximately 20nm thick was deposited using the conditions shown in Table 1. Each glass slide was then used to fabricate a dye sensitised solar cell. The layers were sensitised by placing them in a 3XlO"4 mol dm"3 ethanolic solution of ruthenium cis-bis-isothiocyanato bis(2,2'bipyridyl-4,4'dicarboxylic acid) overnight.
The sensitised cells were then placed on a hotplate and a solid state electrolyte was deposited from an applied saturated solution of copper (I) iodide which comprised: 0.066M CuI
0.0039M EMISCN (l-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate) Solvent = Acetonitrile
To complete the cell fabrication, a 25nm gold electrode was evaporated on top of the cell using a Moorfield Minilab T60M evaporator.
Following fabrication, the solar cells were characterised by placing them under a source that artificially replicated the solar spectrum in the visible region to provide an illumination of 1.0 sun. The data in Table 3 shows the open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (Isc) that was achieved with these cells, which were approximately 1 cm2 active area.
Table 3: The effect of the presence of the AP-ALD TiO2 layer on cell performance
The data in Table 3 demonstrate the beneficial effect that the presence of the AP-ALD TiO2 layer has on both the voltage and current that can be produced from these cells. It can be seen that the presence of the 5nm AP-ALD TiO2 layer is essential to get any performance out of these planar PV cells.
The dark currents for cell A (18nm AP-ALD ZnO layer) and cell B (5nm AP-ALD TiO2 followed by 18nm AP-ALD ZnO layer) were then measured and are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 demonstrates that the presence of the 5nm AP-ALD TiO2 layer below the 18nm AP-ALD ZnO layer results in a higher voltage required before current will flow in the opposite direction due to recombination back reactions.
Example 2 — Effect of thickness of AP-ALD ZnO layer
Cell C was fabricated using exactly the same method as described above for cell B, except the thickness of the AP-ALD ZnO layer on top of the 5nm AP- ALD TiO2 layer was increased to 90nm.
The conditions used for the deposition of the 90nm ZnO layer are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: AP-ALD conditions used to deposit 90nm ZnO layer
The completed PV cell (C) was fabricated using the same process described in example 1. Solar cell C was then characterised by placing it under a source that artificially replicated the solar spectrum in the visible region to provide an illumination of 1.0 sun. The data in Table 5 shows the open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current (Isc) that was achieved when the thickness of the AP- ALD ZnO layer was increased to 90nm. NB. Approximate cell active area for both cells is lcm2.
Table 5: The effect of the presence of the AP-ALD TiO2 layer on cell performance
The data in Table 5 show the large increase in both voltage and current that was achieved when the thickness of the AP-ALD ZnO layer was increased to 90nm.
These examples demonstrate that planar PV cells can be fabricated using a vapour deposition process to create the thin film active layers for a PV device. In addition, by using a solid state electrolyte, any containment issues encountered when using a traditional liquid electrolyte are overcome.
By using these processes a low cost roll to roll manufacturing process can be achieved. The need to sinter the anode to bring the particles into intimate contact with each other is also removed as the material deposited by vapour processes is not particulate.
Claims
1. A method of laying down one or more planar active layers of an opto-elelectronic device onto a substrate, the device further comprising a sensitising layer and a hole transporting layer, the one or more planar active layers being deposited by vapour deposition.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more planar active layers are laid down by atomic layer deposition.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one or more planar active layers are deposited by simultaneously directing a series of gas flows along elongated channels such that the gas flows are substantially parallel to a surface of the substrate and substantially parallel to each other, whereby the gas flows are substantially prevented from flowing in the direction of the adjacent elongated channels and wherein the series of gas flows comprises, in order, at least a first reactive gaseous material, inert purge gas, and a second reactive gaseous material, optionally repeated a plurality of times, wherein the first reactive gaseous material is capable of reacting with a substrate surface treated with the second reactive gaseous material.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3 where there is movement of the substrate relative to the series of elongated channels of at least 0.1 cm/sec.
5. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the thickness of each of the one or more active layers lies in the range 1 to lOOOnm, preferably 2 to 500nm.
6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein there are two planar active layers, the bottom layer being thicker than the layer above.
7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the active layers are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the bottom layer is titanium dioxide and the top layer is zinc oxide.
9. A method as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 4 wherein the hole transporting layer comprises a solid state material.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the solid state hole transporting layer is copper (I) iodide.
11. An optoelectronic device having one or more planar active layers, a sensitising layer and a hole transporting layer, the one or more planar active layers being deposited by vapour deposition.
12. A device as claimed in claim 11 , being a dye sensitized solar cell.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBGB0822985.8A GB0822985D0 (en) | 2008-12-18 | 2008-12-18 | Vapour deposited planar pv cell |
| GB0822985.8 | 2008-12-18 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| WO2010071672A1 true WO2010071672A1 (en) | 2010-06-24 |
Family
ID=40343724
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2009/006484 Ceased WO2010071672A1 (en) | 2008-12-18 | 2009-12-10 | Vapour deposited planar pv cell |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB0822985D0 (en) |
| WO (1) | WO2010071672A1 (en) |
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2012204276A (en) * | 2011-03-28 | 2012-10-22 | Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc | Method for manufacturing dye-sensitized solar cell, dye-sensitized solar cell, and dye-sensitized solar cell module |
| JP2018074039A (en) * | 2016-10-31 | 2018-05-10 | 株式会社豊田中央研究所 | Solar battery, solar battery module, and method for manufacturing solar battery |
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| US20080092946A1 (en) | 2006-10-24 | 2008-04-24 | Applied Quantum Technology Llc | Semiconductor Grain Microstructures for Photovoltaic Cells |
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-
2008
- 2008-12-18 GB GBGB0822985.8A patent/GB0822985D0/en active Pending
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2009
- 2009-12-10 WO PCT/US2009/006484 patent/WO2010071672A1/en not_active Ceased
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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| JP2006302530A (en) * | 2005-04-15 | 2006-11-02 | Sharp Corp | Dye-sensitized solar cell and method for producing the same |
| US20080110494A1 (en) | 2006-02-16 | 2008-05-15 | Solexant Corp. | Nanoparticle sensitized nanostructured solar cells |
| US20070238311A1 (en) * | 2006-03-29 | 2007-10-11 | Eastman Kodak Company | Process for atomic layer deposition |
| US20080072961A1 (en) | 2006-09-26 | 2008-03-27 | Yong Liang | Nanosized,dye-sensitized photovoltaic cell |
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Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2012204276A (en) * | 2011-03-28 | 2012-10-22 | Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc | Method for manufacturing dye-sensitized solar cell, dye-sensitized solar cell, and dye-sensitized solar cell module |
| JP2018074039A (en) * | 2016-10-31 | 2018-05-10 | 株式会社豊田中央研究所 | Solar battery, solar battery module, and method for manufacturing solar battery |
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| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB0822985D0 (en) | 2009-01-28 |
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