Fullerenes are the most popular molecules to use in applications related to molecular electronics because of their superconductive nature. These molecules show a diverse range of properties, including optical, electronic, and structural characteristics. In this work, we focused on the electronic transport properties of molecular devices consisting of the fullerene B or B with different anchor atoms between two gold electrodes in a two-probe configuration. The elements used as anchor atoms in the B molecules were oxygen, selenium, and sulfur, i.e., chalcogens. The current characteristics of these fullerene-based molecular devices were calculated and analyzed. The analysis highlighted the superior electrical conductivity of the pure B device compared to the devices based on its chalcogen-anchored variants. The conductivities of the molecular devices were ranked as follows: pure B > selenium-anchored > sulfur-anchored > oxygen-anchored B. It was also noted that the devices based on B and its chalcogen-anchored variants gave nonzero conductance values at zero bias. These results pave the way for the application of these molecules in future nanodevices utilizing extremely small bias voltages.
The effect of varying the thickness of Silicon window layer, the band gap of CIGS absorber layer and the temperature of the junction on the photovoltaic characteristics of CIGS/Si heterojunction solar cells is investigated. In this, context the photovoltaic characteristics and efficiency of the proposed solar cell were determined. The results suggest that as the thickness of the Si window layer was lowered from 0.5 µm to 0.1 µm the efficiency increases significantly from 5.43 % to 7.02 %. The highest value of efficiency obtained is 7.02 % with VOC value of 0.38 V and fill factor of 73.78 %. Also, it is deduced that the band gap of CIGS has significant effect on the photovoltaic characteristics. As the band gap is increased from 1.0 eV to 1.5 eV, the values of efficiency and open circuit voltage increase. Post 1.6 eV, the efficiency starts decreasing. Thus, it is inferred that 1.5 eV is the most suitable band gap value for designing solar cells based on CIGS. In addition, the effect of variation of temperature on CIGS/Si heterojunction was also studied. On increasing the temperature, the efficiency is seen to be decreasing. Therefore, the proposed solar cell opens doors for making better solar cells in the future with enhanced photovoltaic characteristics.
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