No abstract

We report the application of thin film nanocrystalline (NC) FeS 2 as the copper-free back contact for CdTe solar cells. The FeS 2 -NC layer is prepared from solution directly on the CdTe surface using drop-casting coupled with a hydrazine treatment at ambient temperature and pressure, and requires no thermal treatment. Copper-free solar cells based on the CdS/CdTe/FeS 2 -NC/Au architecture exhibit device efficiencies >90% that of a standard Cu/Au back contact devices. The FeS 2 -NC back contact solar cells show good thermal stability under initial tests. Devices prepared with untreated FeS 2 -NC back contacts display a strong "S-kink" behavior which we correlate with a high hole-transport barrier arising from inter-NC organic surfactant molecules.

No abstract

We use a solution-based bromide anion hot injection method to synthesize stable, phase pure and highly crystalline cubic iron pyrite (FeS2) nanocrystals, with size varying from ∼70 to ∼150 nm.