This work presents a two-step procedure to obtain thin films with a combination of CuSbS2 and Cu12Sb4S13 phases for study in thermoelectric applications. The procedure consisted of the physical evaporation of sulfides layers (Sb2S3 and CuS) on glass substrates and the subsequent annealing of the samples in a N2 atmosphere. The characterizations by Raman spectroscopy and XRD revealed that the samples presented a varied percentage of Cu12Sb4S13 and CuSbS2. The results indicated that the percentage of phases depended on the initial thickness of the sulfide layers and the annealing temperature. The lower initial ratio between sulfide thicknesses and annealing temperature above 300 °C favored the formation of Cu12Sb4S13. However, the thermoelectric properties were improved when the phases coexisted in the thin film compared to samples with high percentages of Cu12Sb4S13. In this way, a sample with a power factor of 2.30 μW /cm∙ K2 at 60 ºC was identified.

Abstract Inverted organic photovoltaic solar cells were fabricated with the configuration of FTO/TiO2/P3HT:PC61BM/MoO3/Ag. Besides, the influence of transport layers, titanium dioxide and molybdenum trioxide, on the performance of solar cells were investigated. These compounds showed excellent optical (around 80% for molybdenum trioxide and 95% for titanium dioxide), electrical (like charge carrier density of 3.3 x1015 cm-3 and 2.5 x1014 cm-3 for titanium and molybdenum, respectively) and structural (anatase and amorphous hexagonal phase for titanium and molybdenum, respectively) properties to be used as transport layers. Also the influence of the thickness of the electron transport layer is studied, as well as the thickness, temperature and heat treatment time of the active layer. The correct selection of TiO2’s thickness (70 nm) and active layer’s thickness (250 nm) and annealing (at 100 degrees for 8 minutes) can increase the power conversion efficiency. Moreover, the cell fabricated with transport layers and the best conditions found showed a maximum efficiency of 3.3%, which indicates that the titanium dioxide and molybdenum trioxide played a determining role in the solar cell performance.

Abstract Antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) thin films are deposited on corning glass substrate using the spray pyrolysis technique. The experimental parameters such as distance between the substrate and source (10-30 cm), substrate temperature (350-450°C) and atmospheres (Nitrogen and Forming gas) are varied to study their effect on the properties of ATO thin films. The ATO thin film annealed at 425°C exhibits the lowest electrical resistivity of 2.23×10-2 Ω-cm. Besides, the film annealed in the nitrogen atmosphere showed a less resistivity value of 9.06×10-3 (Ω-cm) than the forming gas atmosphere. The film doped with 3 at% of Sb revealed the highest figure of merit value of 11.45x10-2 Ω-1. The preferential orientation is observed at the (200) diffraction plane in all the cases from the structural studies. Furthermore, the intensity of the diffraction planes decreases as the temperature increases. The average transmittance of 75% is obtained for ATO thin films.

Cadmium peroxide films were grown by chemical bath deposition on glass slides at 50 °C using CdCl2 as cadmium source. Films were deposited at different nominal cadmium concentrations. As-grown films were annealed in air at 300 °C for obtaining cadmium oxide thin films. The structural, morphological, optical and compositional properties of CdO films were analyzed in terms of the cadmium nominal composition and the annealing effect.