ZnO for Solar Cell and Thermoelectric Applications

Chuanle Zhou; Amirhossein Ghods; Kelcy L. Yunghans; Vishal G. Saravade; Paresh V. Patel; Xiaodong Jiang; Bahadir Kucukgok; Na Lu; Ian Ferguson

doi:10.1117/12.2262772

7 March 2017 ZnO for solar cell and thermoelectric applications

Chuanle Zhou, Amirhossein Ghods, Kelcy L. Yunghans, Vishal G. Saravade, Paresh V. Patel, Xiaodong Jiang, Bahadir Kucukgok, Na Lu, Ian Ferguson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10105, Oxide-based Materials and Devices VIII; 101051K (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2262772
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2017, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

ZnO-based materials show promise in energy harvesting applications, such as piezoelectric, photovoltaic and thermoelectric. In this work, ZnO-based vertical Schottky barrier solar cells were fabricated by MOCVD de- position of ZnO thin films on ITO back ohmic contact, while Ag served as the top Schottky contact. Various rapid thermal annealing conditions were studied to modify the carrier density and crystal quality. Greater than 200 nm thick ZnO films formed polycrystalline crystal structure, and were used to demonstrate Schottky solar cells. I-V characterizations of the devices showed photovoltaic performance, but but need further development. This is the first demonstration of vertical Schottky barrier solar cell based on wide bandgap ZnO film. Thin film and bulk ZnO grown by MOCVD or melt growth were also investigated in regards to their room- temperature thermoelectric properties. The Seebeck coefficient of bulk ZnO was found to be much larger than that of thin film ZnO at room temperature due to the higher crystal quality in bulk materials. The Seebeck coefficients decrease while the carrier concentration increases due to the crystal defects caused by the charge carriers. The co-doped bulk Zn_0:96Ga_0:02Al_0:02O showed enhanced power factors, lower thermal conductivities and promising ZT values in the whole temperature range (300-1300 K).

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Chuanle Zhou, Amirhossein Ghods, Kelcy L. Yunghans, Vishal G. Saravade, Paresh V. Patel, Xiaodong Jiang, Bahadir Kucukgok, Na Lu, and Ian Ferguson "ZnO for solar cell and thermoelectric applications", Proc. SPIE 10105, Oxide-based Materials and Devices VIII, 101051K (7 March 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2262772

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