Photocurrent growth and decay behavior of crystal violet dye-based photoelectrochemical cell in photovoltaic mode

Crystal violet dye-doped photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) show different and unusual behavior in their electrical and optical characteristics. In this work, we have studied the photocurrent growth and decay behavior of crystal violet dye-based solid-state PEC in photovoltaic mode. Photocurrent growth and decay are studied for different intensities of illumination. They follow a power law relationship with time which is of the form I _ph?～?t ^±α , where I _ph is the photocurrent and α is a constant. The positive and negative signs are used to indicate the growth and decay of the photocurrent, respectively. This power law relation is explained by dispersive transport model which was originally developed by Scher and Montrol and subsequently modified by different workers. The constant, α is termed as dispersion parameter, and it is related to the disorder. It is observed that the value of this parameter depends on the intensity of incident illumination. Dependence of this dispersion parameter on incident intensity is studied in this work. Variations of α with intensity for growth and decay have been discussed. In our system, the value of α is 0.325?±?0.005 for decay whereas, in the growth region, its value varies from 0.55 to 0.33, when intensity varies from minimum to maximum. The value of the disorder parameter, α, decreases as the intensity of illumination increases for growth of current whereas it remains nearly constant for decay of current. This work will be helpful in understanding the charge transport mechanism of dye-based PEC cell.     

On the possibility of determining the diffusion length of excitons in semiconductors from photomagnetic measurement data

The effect of a magnetic field on the photocurrent I_ph in Si and GaAs solar cells is investigated. It is shown that the observed change in the photocurrent I_ph of the solar cells in response to a magnetic field can be caused by a decrease in the diffusion length of excitons L_exc. A simplified model of the photomagnetic experiment is proposed to estimate the diffusion length of excitons L_exc and the contribution made by excitons to the photocurrent of the solar cells.     

Anomalous transient photocurrent in disordered semiconductors: Theory and experiment

Anomalous transient photocurrents are theoretically and experimentally studied in amorphous As₂Se₃. At high photogeneration rates a maximum of photocurrent I_ph(t) is formed by two asymptotes I_ph ～ t^α and $\text{I}{}_{\mathrm{ph}}\text{～ t}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?(1?\alpha )</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$. At intermediate generation level the portion of a quasi-stationary current occurs between the two asymptotics due to monomolecular recombination, though the current decay towards the steady state is still governed by bimolecular recombination. At low generation rates the transition into steady-state is determined by monomolecular recombination alone.     

Mechanisms of absolute negative photoconductivity in solids

The microscopic mechanisms governing the absolute negative photoconductivity in solids (j_ph = σ_ph, σ_ph < 0) discovered recently in concentrated ruby crystals are described. It is shown that in hopping models of photoconductivity the contribution to the current, connected with the field-induced asymmetry of processes of electron photoexcitation and recombination, dominates. It is predicted that the sign of σ_ph(ω) changes as a transition over an absorption resonance is performed.     

Photovoltaic properties of black silicon microstructured by femtosecond pulsed laser

Prototype devices based on black silicon have been fabricated by microstructuring 250 μm thick multicrystalline n doped silicon wafers using femtosecond pulsed laser in ambient gas of SF₆ to measure its photovoltaic properties. The enhanced optical absorption of black silicon extends across the visible region and all the black silicons prepared in this work exhibit enhanced optical absorption close to 90% from 300 nm to 800 nm. The highest open-circuit voltage (V_oc) and short-circuit current (I_sc) under the illumination of He–Ne continuous laser at 632.8 nm were measured to be 53.3 mV and 0.11 mA, respectively at a maximum power conversion efficiency of 1.44%. Upon excitation with He–Ne continuous laser at 632.8 nm, external quantum efficiency (EQE) of black silicon as high as 112.9% has also been observed. Development of black silicon for photovoltaic purposes could open up a new perspective in achieving high efficient silicon-based solar cell by means of the enhanced optical absorption in the visible region. The current–voltage characteristic and photo responsivity of these prototype devices fabricated with microstructured silicon were also investigated.     

High-efficient Schottky-junction silicon solar cell using silver nanowires covering nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon

Synthesized graphene (Gr) on metal substrates that requires additional surface-to-surface transfer procedure to form Gr-on-silicon (Gr-Si) Schottky-junction configuration, which in turn results in the photovoltaic degradation caused by both mechanical damages and chemical contaminations during several wet chemical steps. This current issue has motivated us to develop alternative Schottky-junction configuration using silver nanowires (AgNWs) covering nitrogen (N)-doped amorphous carbon (a-C) films annealed in the temperature range 750–900 °C. Compared to the Schottky-junction Si solar cell based on 900 °C annealed N-doped a-C films (C_N-900-Si) with only Ag grid, all of AgNWs-C_N-900-Si solar cells exhibit the significant enhancement of photovoltaic characteristics. Consequently, the remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.17% is achieved on 0.2 wt% AgNWs-C_N-900-Si solar cell, which is far superior to that of the C_N-900-Si solar cell with only Ag grid (~0.13%). Furthermore, the 0.2 wt% AgNWs-C_N-900-SiNWs solar cell shows the highest short-circuit current density (J_SC) of 23.42 mA/cm² and PCE of 7.67%, which is a PCE enhancement of ~24% when compared to the 0.2 wt% AgNWs-C_N-900-Si solar cell. This study demonstrates that AgNWs network can accelerate the charge carrier extraction from Schottky-contact between C_N-900 and n-Si substrate, leading to greatly reduced series resistance that results in significantly enhanced photovoltaic characteristics.     

Surface condition and electron emission from cold cathodes in vacuum and in noble gas glow discharge

An optogalvanic method is used to measure photoemission coefficient γ_ph in a gas discharge exposed to the resonant radiation of helium atoms. The range of working current j/P _He ² (j is the current density, and P _He is the gas pressure) extends from 2 to 1000 μA/(cm² Torr), and field strength E/N at the cathode varies from 0.45 to 13 kTd. Up to j/P _He ² = 10 μA/(cm²Torr²), photoemission coefficient γ_ph grows and then tends toward saturation at a level of γ_ph = 0.30 ± 0.01. Under the no-discharge conditions, γ_ph = 0.35 ± 0.05. It is concluded that the emissivity of cold cathodes in a gas discharge is governed by adsorption of the working gas on the cathode surface and its implantation into the cathode. With allowance for this factor, the contribution of photoemission to the discharge current is reconsidered. It is shown that, for cathodes with diameter d _c ? l _c (l _c is the length of the cathode layer), a normal or weakly abnormal glow discharge in noble gases is largely of a photoelectron character. In light noble gases, the photoelectron character of the discharge persists even for a strongly abnormal discharge. The energy dependences of coefficients γ of kinetic and potential emission in helium are calculated with allowance for implantation of helium atoms into the cathode and compared with published data. The influence of particle implantation on γ in a vacuum is estimated.     

Analysis of the induced photothermal conduction in the Mn4Si7-Si〈Mn〉-Mn4Si7 and Mn4Si7-Si〈Mn〉-M heterojunctions

The kinetics of photocurrent is studied in the presence of the intrinsic irradiation at hν ≥ 1.12 eV in the Mn₄Si₇-Si〈Mn〉-Mn₄Si₇ and Mn₄Si₇-Si〈Mn〉-M heterojunctions at relatively high applied voltages. It is demonstrated that photocurrent, scattered power, and temperature at the reverse-biased contact of the heterojunction depend on time at dc applied voltage, low temperature, and irradiation at hν ≥ 1.12 eV. The analysis of the temperature dependences of the photocurrent growth with time is used to demonstrate that the photocurrent pulses consist of two fragments: the first one corresponds to a slowly increasing relatively low current with a slope of (2–4) × 10^?4 A/s and the second fragment is characterized by a sharp increase in the current with a slope of 0.1–1.0 A/s. Based on the slopes, the heating rates (β₁ = 42 deg/s and β₂ = 3 × 10³ deg/s) and temperature gradients across the transient layer that corresponds to the Mn₄Si₇-Si〈Mn〉 interface (ΔT/Δx = 6.3 × 10⁶ K/cm for β₁ = 42 deg/s and ΔT/Δx ≥ 1.5 × 10⁸ K/cm for β₂ = 3 × 10³ deg/s) are estimated. It is demonstrated that the Joule self-heating allows relatively high heating rates in the reverse-biased contact of heterojunction, which provides rapid heating similar to the rectangular step excitation that is equivalent to the activation of the long-wavelength (extrinsic) irradiation.     

Natural dye-based photoelectrode for improvement of solar cell performance

In the present paper, photovoltaic studies of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on betacyanin/TiO₂ and betacyanin/WO₃–TiO₂ have been done. The cell performances were compared through I–V curves and wavelength dependant photocurrent measurements for the two new types of DSSCs. The TiO₂-coated DSSC showed the photovoltage and photocurrent of 300 mV and 4.96 mA/cm², whereas the cell employing WO₃–TiO₂ photoelectrode showed the values 435 mV and 9.86 mA/cm², respectively. The conversion efficiency of TiO₂ based dye-sensitized solar cell was found to be 0.69 %, while WO₃–TiO₂-based cell exhibited a higher conversion efficiency of 2.2 %. The better performance of the WO₃–TiO₂ dye-sensitized solar cell photoelectrode is thought to be due to an inherent energy barrier at the electrode/electrolyte interface leading to the reduced recombination of photoinduced electrons.     

Organic polymer p-n heterostructures for optoelectronics

The photovoltaic effect due to the photogeneration of charge carriers at the interface in organic polymeric p-n-heterostructures based on the developed composites with hole (doped polyimides, conjugated polymers) and electron (doped polyetherimides and carbazolyl-containing polymers) conduction was observed and studied. The best performance was observed for heterostructures with diffuse and developed (bulk) interface. The maximum energy conversion efficiency was found to be 0.5% at λ = 400–650 nm. Components with enhanced photo and thermal stability were used. A weak photovoltaic effect was observed for heterostructures based on conjugated polymers (with a sharp interface). In this case, the rectification (diode) effect was observed for both dark current and photocurrent due to dark and photo injection of carriers from the electrodes at bias voltages across the cell above the injection threshold (V > V _i ). This conclusion is supported by the observation of recombination electroluminescence of the dopant in the n-layer, indicating a full or partial recombination of carriers at the interface. At V < V _i , photocurrent under reverse bias (+A1, ?ITO) is significantly higher than that under forward bias due to an efficient photogeneration of carriers at the interface and separate transport thereof. A sensitivity of about 100 mA/W at λ = 400–500 nm was reached.     

In0.15Ga0.85As—GaAs应力层多量子阱中束缚子带—连续带跃迁

在10—300K温度范围,研究了稳态发光二极管(LED)辐照对15周期的In_0.15Ga_0.85As(8nm)-CaAs(15nm)应力层多量子阱的光电流谱的影响。各跃迁过程对应的光电流峰的强度随LED光强的增大而减弱,并且具有不同的变化规律。据此可区分出束缚子带和连续带间的跃迁及其亚结构,并由跃迁的能量位置,直接确定导带和价带的不连续量,得出重空穴价带的能带台阶Q_v=0.38±0.01。 关键词：     

Mechanism of charge transfer in injection photodiodes based on the In-n +-CdS-n-CdS x Te1 − x -p-Zn x Cd1 − x Te-Mo structure

Photosensitive In-n ⁺-CdS-n-CdS _x Te_{1 ? x} -p-Zn _x Cd_{1 ? x} Te-Mo film structures based on II–VI semiconductors and operating in the wavelength range λ = 0.490–0.855 μm have been fabricated. These structures in the forward current direction at high bias voltages operate as injection photodiodes and exhibit a high integrated sensitivity S _int ≈ 700 A/lm (14500 A/W) at room temperature. It has been found that, in the fabricated structures at low illuminance levels and low forward bias voltages (0.05–0.50 V), the diffusion and drift fluxes of nonequilibrium charge carriers are directed toward each other. This effect leads to the sign reversal of the photocurrent, which makes it possible on the basis of these structures to create selective photodetectors with injection properties. In the reverse direction of the photocurrent, these structures also operate in the mode of internal amplification of the primary photocurrent, but the integrated sensitivity in this mode is considerably less than that in the forward current direction.     

Effects of low temperature irradiation with heavy ions on superconductor niobium

To study the effects of heavy ion irradiation at low temperature on type II superconductor Nb, the transition temperatureT _c , the normal state residual resistivityρ _B , the transition widthΔT _ph using oxygen ions of 25 MeV and subsequent thermal annealing were measured. The samples were held at temperatures <20 K during irradiation in a cryostat for in situ measurements. The maximum oxygen fluence was about 2·10¹⁵ cm^?2 corresponding a relatively high defect concentration. The heavy ion irradiation experiments are described. The critical temperatureT _c decreases with increasing residual resistivityρ _B . In agreement with the theory and experiments, the gap anisotropy parameter is 〈a ²〉=0.008, subsequent annealing shows a hysteresis ofT _c versusρ _B . The resistivity saturation value Δρ_BS = 2.55 μΩ cm was obtained and different recovery stages were found. Significant broadening of transition width during irradiation was observed.T _c andΔT _ph anneal to 60% in the temperature interval of (60–90) K. Oxygen induced effects as a simulation method of high neutron damage are compared with irradiation measurements using neutrons and deuterons.     

Thin-film capacitor M/Pb(ZrTi)O3/M as a polarization-sensitive photocell

A steady-state short-circuit photocurrent of preliminarily polarized submicron capacitors with a polycrystalline Pb(ZrTi)O₃ (PZT) film is investigated under irradiation by light with a wavelength λ > 0.4 μm. The structures with different M/PZT interfaces that differ in the leakage current by more than an order of magnitude are found to demonstrate virtually the same value of the photocurrent, which is always directed opposite to the ferroelectric polarization of the PZT film. Although the magnitude of photocurrent is determined by the degree of polarization of the film, the observed photocurrent is not a depolarization current of the ferroelectric film. Therefore, the M/PZT/M capacitor behaves like a polarization-sensitive photocell. Within the proposed theory of a heterophase medium, the dependence of the photocurrent on the magnitude of the preliminary polarization is calculated and proves to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental results.

     

Wavelength selective detection using excitonic resonances in GaAs/AlGaAs P-I-(MQW)-N structures

The quantum confined Stark effect causes a strong wavelength and voltage dependence of photocurrent near excitonic resonances which is used to study the wavelength selectivity of p-i(MQW)-n photodiode. For a parallel input of optical bits each coming at a different wavelength, the selectivity is considered good if the state of a λ_i wavelength bit can be detected regardless of the λ_j (j ≠ i) state of the bits. Photocurrent is found to have very good selectivity if λ_j bits are all zero, i.e. the optical information is serial. However, we find that differential photocurrent (Δ I_ph/ΔV) provides a good selectivity for random states of λ_j bits (i.e. parallel input). Four channel selectivity is demonstrated at 200K. Specially designed quantum well structures can greatly improve this selectivity.     

Photocarrier injection and the I-V characteristics of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3/SrTiO3:Nb heterojunctions

Oxide heterojunctions made of p-type La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ (LSMO) and niobium-doped n-type SrTiO₃ (STO:Nb) have been fabricated by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique and characterized under UV light irradiation by measuring the current-voltage, photovoltaic properties and the junction capacitance. It is shown that the heterojunctions work as an efficient UV photodiode, in which photogenerated holes in the STO:Nb substrate are injected to the LSMO film. The maximum surface hole density Q/e and external quantum efficiency γ are estimated to be 8.3×10¹² cm⁻² and 11% at room temperature, respectively. They are improved significantly in a p-i-n junction of LSMO/STO/STO:Nb, where Q/e and γ are 3.0×10¹³ cm⁻² and 27%, respectively.     

Photoelectrochemical switch based on cis-Azobenzene chromophore modified TiO2 nanowires

Carboxylated-azobenzene chromophore modified TiO₂ nanowire composites were prepared and characterized. Photocurrent measured with monochromatic incident light irradiation results showed that azobenzene modified TiO₂ nanowire electrode had obviously higher photocurrent and broader visible light response covering range of 350-650 nm, and the wavelength position corresponding to the maximum photocurrent was red shift to about 470 nm. After alternate irradiation with UV and visible light, the azobenzene modified TiO₂ nanowire electrode exhibited obvious photoelectrochemical switching properties. Furthermore, the photocurrent under visible light irradiation was much higher than that under UV irradiation due to the cis-to-trans isomerization transformation of azobenzene chromophore.     

关于一级近似Tc级数解的收敛问题

本文通过一个实例说明:μ^*=0时,一级近似T_c级数解的收敛半径既不是由z_ph=-∫₀^(ω_ph)dωg(ω)dω·ω²/(ω_ph²-ω²),也不是由z_ph=∫₀^(ω_ph)dωg(ω)dω·ω^{2< 关键词：}     

Temperature dependence of GaSb and AlGaSb solar cells

Sb-based alloys offer great potential for photovoltaic and thermophotovoltaic applications. In this paper, we study the performance of Al_xGa_1-xSb (x = 0, 0.15, and 0.50) single-junction solar cells over a temperature range of 25–250 °C. The dark current-voltage, one-sun current-voltage, and external quantum efficiency measurements were acquired at different temperatures. Correlations between experimental and numerical results are made to draw conclusions about the thermal behavior of the cells. It is shown that, while the bandgaps decrease linearly with temperature leading to the reduction of open-circuit voltages, the short-circuit current densities decrease with non-linear trends. The temperature-dependent dark current densities were extracted by fitting the dark current-voltage curves to single- and double-diode models to give an insight into the effect of intrinsic carrier concentration (n_i) on the cell performance. We find that the n_i has a significant impact on temperature-dependent cell performance. These findings could lay a groundwork for the future Sb-based photovoltaic systems that operate at high temperatures.     

Photoconductivity studies of Te-substituted Sn-Sb-Se semiconducting films

Amorphous thin films of chalcogenide Sn₁₀Sb₂₀Se_70?X Te _X (0≤X≤8) composition were deposited using the thermal evaporation technique. The dark conductivity measurement showed a thermally activated conduction process with single activation energy in a studied temperature regime. Photoconductivity showed no maxima in the measured temperature regime revealing that the material belongs to the type II photoconductor. The observed small difference between activation energy for photoconduction ΔE _ph and dark conduction ΔE accounts for low photosensitivity of the material. The intensity variation of the photocurrent obeys the power law with the exponent γ～0.56–0.64 revealing the dominant bimolecular recombination mechanism in the studied compositions. Transient photoconductivity revealed that initial rise of the photocurrent becomes slow with tellurium content in the sample. The change in the shape of the transient photocurrent with composition is qualitatively explained based upon change in defect statistics introduced by the tellurium content in the sample. The decay process after the initial decay was found to be nonexponential and is described with a differential life time of charge carrier that showed a decreasing trend with the tellurium content in the sample.