A Direct Route Towards Polymer/Copper Indium Sulfide Nanocomposite Solar Cells

Abstract

Polymer/copper indium sulfide (CIS) nanocomposite solar cells are prepared via a capper free in situ preparation route using copper and indium xanthates as precursors, which decompose and form CIS nanoparticles in the polymer matrix during a mild thermal treatment. The solar cells generate current in a wide range of the solar spectrum and exhibit efficiencies up to 2.8%.

Nickel sulfide thin films and nanocrystals synthesized from nickel xanthate precursors

“…p.a., Sigma-Aldrich), deuterated chloroform (CDCl 3 , 99.8 atom % D, VWR Chemicals), methanol (MeOH, puriss., C99.7%, Sigma-Aldrich), 2-propanol (99.9%, Sigma-Aldrich), toluene (C99.0%, VWR Chemicals). Potassium O-3,3-dimethylbutan-2-yl dithiocarbonate (KXa-C6) and potassium O-2,2-dimethylpentan-3-yl dithiocarbonate (KXa-C7) were prepared by the following previously published procedures [51,55].…”

“…The attractive properties of metal xanthates, like their usually good stability (also in solution), relatively low decomposition temperature (below 200°C) and simplicity to tailor solubility and decomposition behavior by variation of their organic side chains, have ensured that they are widely employed in the preparation of various metal sulfide nanomaterials [35][36][37][38][39][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…A variety of binary (Bi 2 S 3 [52,61], CdS [53], CuS [36], HgS [36], MnS [36], ZnS [36], PbS [60], PdS [35], SnS [59], NiS [35][36][37][38][39]), ternary (copper indium sulfide [51], copper antimony sulfide [54]) and quaternary (copper zinc tin sulfide [55]) metal sulfide nanomaterials have already been synthesized via a thermally induced decomposition of the metal xanthates, proceeding via the Chugaev elimination mechanism [36,51]. Far less explored is the conversion of metal xanthates to metal sulfides at room temperature by photochemically induced decomposition using UV irradiation [56,57] or direct chemical reaction with primary amines.…”

Synthesis of AgInS2 Nanoparticles Directly in Poly (3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT)Matrix: Photoluminescence Quenching Studies

“…In both of the processes, nanoparticles are required to be homogeneously dispersed in the polymer to constitute an interpenetrating network in order to obtain efficient exciton separation and charge transport in the active layer. Recently a new approach was reported for the fabrication of hybrid metal sulfide-polymer composites based on the in-situ thermal decomposition of a single source metal xanthate precursor in a polymer [5]. Such strategy was demonstrated for the fabrication of CdS:P3HT and CuInS 2 :polymer nanocomposite films and efficient charge photogeneration at the donor-acceptor heterojunction was demonstrated.…”

“…Such strategy was demonstrated for the fabrication of CdS:P3HT and CuInS 2 :polymer nanocomposite films and efficient charge photogeneration at the donor-acceptor heterojunction was demonstrated. [5][6] In this route, metal xanthates are dissolved together with a conjugated polymer in an apolar organic solvent. The advantages of metal xanthates are that they decompose at temperatures significantly below 200°C and that their solubility can be tuned by varying the alkyl moiety of the xanthate group.…”