David S Ginley

• PhD
• Researcher at National Renewable Energy Laboratory

We report the design, construction, and automation of a flat plate sample loading, alignment, and data acquisition system for x-ray diffraction measurements in reflection geometry implemented at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. The system is built onto a single platform, enabling facile transferability, and is compartmentalized into...

Understanding the onset of degradation in the air electrode within solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs), and the subsequent impact on cell performance, is a critical step in mitigating the performance losses and stability issues of SOECs. In an effort to identify early onset degradation phenomena, SOECs were characterized as fabricated and after...

To synthetically target a specific material with select performance, the underlying relationship between structure and function must be understood. For targeting magnetic properties, such understanding is underdeveloped for a relatively new class of layered hexagonal perovskites, the 12R-Ba4MMn3O12 family. Here, we perform a detailed magnetostructu...

Solid oxide electrolyzer cells (SOECs) are among the most promising devices for producing hydrogen from the electrolysis of water, as they can be operated using excess heat. However, due to their high operating temperatures, they can suffer from materials degradation phenomena, including the segregation of cation species across the cells. Notably,...

Decarbonization of hydrogen production is critically important to the renewable energy economy, indeed, the US Department of Energy recently released the Hydrogen Shot, setting the target at reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per kilogram in 1 decade. Of the electrolysis technologies that might meet the Hydrogen Shot goal, high temperature e...

The increasing need for global hydrogen ideally depends on low-cost 1$/kg green hydrogen. The DOE’s Energy Earthshot initiative aims to reduce the cost of green hydrogen to achieve this goal in a decade. There are a number of pathways of which solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) are one of the most attractive ¹ . SOECs have high demonstrated eff...

Beta gallium oxide ( β-Ga2O3)-based semiconductor heterojunctions have recently demonstrated improved performance at high voltages and elevated temperatures and are, thus, promising for applications in power electronic devices and harsh environment sensors. However, the long-term reliability of these ultra-wideband gap (UWBG) semiconductor devices...

Material design is increasingly used to realize desired functional properties, and the perovskite structure family is one of the richest and most diverse: perovskites are employed in many applications due to their structural flexibility and compositional diversity. Hexagonal, layered perovskite structures with chains of face-sharing transition meta...

Solid-oxide electrolyzer cells (SOECs) based on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) oxide electrolytes are devices capable of producing hydrogen with excess thermal energy. However, beginning with initial materials sintering and extending through electrochemical aging, Sr diffusion within the Gd-doped CeO2 (GDC) barrier layer has been observed to lead...

Beta gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) shows significant promise in high-temperature, high-power, and sensing electronics applications. However, long-term stable metallization layers for Ohmic contacts at high temperatures present unique thermodynamic challenges. The current most common Ohmic contact design based on 20 nm of Ti has been repeatedly demonstrat...

Modeling-driven design of redox-active off-stoichiometric oxides for solar thermochemical H2 production (STCH) seldom has resulted in empirical demonstration of competitive materials. We report the theoretical prediction and experimental evidence that the perovskite Ca2/3Ce1/3Ti1/3Mn2/3O3 is synthesizable with high phase purity, stable, and has des...

The resurgence of inter­est in hydrogen-related technologies has stimulated new studies aimed at advancing lesser-developed water-splitting processes, such as solar thermochemical hydrogen production (STCH). Progress in STCH has been largely hindered by a lack of new materials able to efficiently split water at a rate comparable to ceria under iden...

Beta gallium oxide ($\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$) shows significant promise in the high-temperature, high-power, and sensing electronics applications. However, long-term stable metallization layers for Ohmic contacts at high temperature present unique thermodynamic challenges. The current most common Ohmic contact design based on 20 nm of Ti has been repeat...

Solar thermochemical hydrogen production (STCH) via redox-active metal oxides is an approach for direct solar-driven hydrogen generation typically using a high-temperature redox cycle involving refractory oxides and steam. Typical cycles involve high-temperature reduction of oxides to form oxygen vacancies, followed by lower temperature reaction be...

The resurgence of interest in a hydrogen economy and the development of hydrogen-related technologies has initiated numerous research and development efforts aimed at making the generation, storage, and transportation of hydrogen more efficient and affordable. Solar thermochemical hydrogen production (STCH) is a process that potentially exhibits nu...

Beta-gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) is an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor that has potential for power electronic applications and devices operating at high temperatures. Particularly important for these applications are its 4.9 eV bandgap, facile electron doping, and the ability to grow β-Ga2O3 crystals from the melt. In this work, vertical β-Ga2O3 Schot...

Manganese oxides have enabled a wide range of technologies including oxygen evolution catalysts, lithium ion batteries, and thermochemical water splitting. However, the variable oxidation state and rich polymorphism of manganese oxides make it difficult to find the processing conditions to target a particular phase of manganese oxide. Targeted synt...

Selective synthesis of metastable polymorphs requires a fundamental understanding of the complex energy landscapes in which these phases form. Recently, the development of in situ high temperature and controlled atmosphere transmission electron microscopy has enabled the direct observation of nucleation, growth, and phase transformations with near...

In this work, we present the design and experimental results of a prototype latent heat thermal energy storage system. This prototype used 100 kg of aluminum-silicon as a phase change material with embedded heat pipes for effective heat transfer, a valved thermosyphon to control heat flow out of the thermal storage system, and a Stirling engine to...

Exploring the Link Between Amorphous Structure and Crystallization Behavior of Titania Thin Films by Electron-Based Pair Distribution Functions and in-situ TEM - Volume 25 Supplement - John S. Mangum, Lauren M. Garten, Valerie Jacobson, David S. Ginley, Brian P. Gorman

Co-Zn-Ni-O thin films were grown on glass at ambient temperature (TS < 65 °C) by co-sputtering from Co3O4, ZnO, and NiO targets to determine the structural and opto-electronic properties across the ternary composition space. Compositional domains with spinel, wurtzite, rock-salt, and mixed phases were observed, albeit with very weak X-ray diffracti...

We used high-throughput experimental screening methods to unveil the physical and chemical properties of Mn1-x Zn x O wurtzite alloys and identify their appropriate composition for effective water splitting application. The Mn1-x Zn x O thin films were synthesized using combinatorial pulsed laser deposition, permitting for characterization of a w...

In this paper, we present performance simulations and techno-economic analysis of a modular dispatchable solar power tower. Using a heliostat field and power block three orders of magnitude smaller than conventional solar power towers, our unique configuration locates thermal storage and a power block directly on a tower receiver. To make the syste...

We are developing a novel concentrating solar electricity-generating technology that is both modular and dispatchable. Solar ThermoElectricity via Advanced Latent heat Storage (STEALS) uses concentrated solar flux to generate high-temperature thermal energy, which directly converts to electricity via thermoelectricgenerators (TEGs), stored within a...

The Durable Module Materials Consortium, or DuraMat, is a consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, that is intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and...

Through combining predictive theory and experiment new functional materials for thermochemical cycles and reactions such as the oxygen evolution reaction. Many of these materials include metastable polymorphs of the groundstate materials and necessitate careful optimization of the inherent defect structure for that polymorph. The often exhibit mult...

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells in superstrate configuration promise improved light management and higher stability compared to substrate devices, but they have yet to deliver comparable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Chemical reactions between the CIGS layer and the front contact were shown in the past to deteriorate the p-n junction in sup...

Transparent conductive oxides and amorphous oxide semiconductors are important materials for many modern technologies. Here, we explore the ternary indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO) using combinatorial synthesis and spatially resolved characterization. The electrical conductivity, work function, absorption onset, mechanical hardness, and elastic modulus...

There have been a number of studies on the fabrication of Sn-doped gallium oxide (Ga2O3:Sn) films with both conductive and transparent properties using a variety of deposition methods. However, often, synthesis results in films that are not transparent. In this paper, we examine the mechanisms underlying these results in Ga2O3:Sn thin films prepare...

Conduction and rectification in nanoantenna-coupled NbOx- and NiO-based metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes (“nanorectennas”) are studied by comparing new theoretical predictions with the measured response of nanorectenna arrays. A new quantum mechanical model is reported and agrees with measurements of current–voltage (I–V) curves, over 10 orders o...

We report on a new modular, dispatchable, and cost-effective solar electricity-generating technology. Solar ThermoElectricity via Advanced Latent heat Storage (STEALS) integrates several state-of-the-art technologies to provide electricity on demand. In the envisioned STEALS system, concentrated sunlight is converted to heat at a solar absorber. Th...

World-wide research activities on ZnO and related transparent conductive oxides (TCO) in thin film, nanostructured, and multilayered forms are driven by the vast potential of these materials for optoelectronic, microelectronic, and photovoltaic applications. Renewed interest in ZnO applications is partly stimulated by cost reduction in material pro...

The Big Picture – Accepting Diverse Views on Energy and Sustainability - Volume 3 - David S. Ginley, David Cahen, Elizabeth A. Kócs

Making the sustainable energy colloquy quantitative and accessible to all - Volume 3 - David S. Ginley, David Cahen, Elizabeth A. Kócs

The potential of effectively n-type doping Ga2O3 considering its large band gap has made it an attractive target for integration into transistors and solar cells. As a result amorphous GaOx is now attracting interest as an electron transport layer in solar cells despite little information on its opto-electrical properties. Here we present the opto-...

The magnetic properties of LaâCuO/sub 4+/delta// (/delta//le/0.13) have been determined by means of muon-spin rotation and relaxation in transverse and zero external fields. A fraction /ital f//sub SC/=0.6 of the sample was found to be superconducting with /ital T//sub /ital c//=35(1) K and extrapolated penetration depth /lambda/(0)=4200 A (powder...

The conclusions reached by a diverse group of scientists who attended an intense 2-day workshop on hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are presented, including their thoughts on the most burning fundamental and practical questions regarding this unique class of materials, and their suggestions on various approaches to resolve these issues. © 2015...

The emergence of methyl-ammonium lead halide (MAPbX3) perovskites motivates the identification of unique properties giving rise to exceptional bulk transport properties, and identifying future materials with similar properties. Here, we propose that this "defect tolerance" emerges from fundamental electronic structure properties, including the orbi...

Transition metal oxides play important roles as contact and electrode materials, but their use as active layers in solar energy conversion requires achieving semiconducting properties akin to those of conventional semiconductors like Si or GaAs. In particular, efficient bipolar carrier transport is a challenge in these materials. Based on the predi...

An organometallic ink based on the nickel formate–ethylenediamine (Ni(O2CH)2(en)2) complex forms high performance NiOx thin film hole transport layers (HTL) in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Improved understanding of these HTLs functionality can be gained from temperature-dependent decomposition/oxidation chemistries during film formation and...

The dominant point defect mechanism of amorphous (a-) indium zinc oxide (IZO) was probed through in situ electrical characterization of sputtered a-IZO thin films in response to changes in oxygen partial pressure (pO) at 300C. The results yielded a power law dependence of conductivity (σ) versus pO of ∼−1/6. This experimental method, known as Brouw...

Rapid thermal processing (RTP) is widely used for processing a variety of materials, including electronics and photovoltaics. Presently, optimization of RTP is done primarily based on ex-situ studies. As a consequence, the precise reaction pathways and phase progression during the RTP remain unclear. More awareness of the reaction pathways would be...

Alloying in traditional semiconductors is a well-established method to tune the electronic structure and the materials properties, but this technique is less common for oxides. Here, we present results on the non-equilibrium alloying of the prototypical semiconductor Cu2O with ZnO synthesized via high-throughput RF magnetron sputtering. It is demon...

Hybrid radical energy storage devices, such as batteries or electrochemical devices, and methods of use and making are disclosed. Also described herein are electrodes and electrolytes useful in energy storage devices, for example, radical polymer cathode materials and electrolytes for use in organic radical batteries.

Solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) have the potential to convert solar energy at greater than 15% efficiency. This project investigates the system design, the necessary thermoelectric and optical technologies, and the economic feasibility of the STEG approach. A STEG is a solid-state heat engine that converts sunlight directly into DC electric...

Tin nitride, Sn3N4, is a semiconductor composed of common elements with a band gap in the visible range, making it a candidate for optical and electronic applications. In this work, the semiconducting properties of tin nitride are explored by thin-film experiments and first-principles theory to evaluate the prospects of this material for optoelectr...

Metastable CuNbN2 is synthesized by a solid state ion-exchange reaction between polycrystalline NaNbN2 (obtained by solid state reaction of Na metal and NbN under ammonia flow at 500 °C for 24 h) and a 5-fold excess of CuI (N2 atmosphere, 300 °C, 48 h).

Liquid-based precursors for formation of Copper Selenide, Indium Selenide, Copper Indium Diselenide, and/or copper Indium Galium Diselenide include copper-organoselenides, particulate copper selenide suspensions, copper selenide ethylene diamine in liquid solvent, nanoparticulate indium selenide suspensions, and indium selenide ethylene diamine coo...

As the worlds demand for energy grows, the search for cost competitive and earth abundant thin film photovoltaic absorbers is becoming increasingly important. A promising approach to tackle this challenge is through thin film photovoltaics made of elements that are abundant in the Earths crust. In this work, we focus on Cu2SnS3, a promising earth a...

Enhanced power conversion efficiency is observed for inverted organic solar cells when a sol-gel deposited MgZnO is used in place of ZnO. The enhanced fill factor and open-circuit voltage suggest reduced recombination at the interface with bulk heterojunctions of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) blended with either [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl...

Copper nitrides are defect-tolerant semiconductors with properties that are promising for solar energy conversion applications. Currently, there are few known ternary copper nitride materials. Here, we synthesized a previously unreported CuNbN2 using an ion-exchange reaction and subsequently determined its properties. CuNbN2 has a layered delafossi...

Investigations on the impact of interfacial modification on organic optoelectronic device performance often attribute the improved device performance to the optoelectronic properties of the modifier. A critical assumption of such conclusions is that the organic active layer deposited on top of the modified surface (interface) remains unaltered. Her...

A class of “push-pull” conjugated copolymers based on cyclopenta[c]thiophene-4,6-dione (CTD) and benzodithiophene (BDT) is synthesized for application as an electron donor in organic photovoltaics (OPV). Given the diverse electronic and structural tunability of the CTD unit, specific CTD-containing copolymers are chosen with the aid of theoretical...

A spin-cast method is presented for the formation of phosphonic acid functionalized small molecule layers on solution-processed ZnO substrates for use as electron collecting interlayers in organic photovoltaics. Phosphonic acid interlayers modify the ZnO work function and the charge carrier injection barrier at its interface, resulting in systemati...

The influence of backbone composition on the physical properties of donor-acceptor (D-A) copolymers composed of varying amounts of benzodithiophene (BDT) donor with the thienoisoindoledione (TID) acceptor is investigated. First, the synthesis of bis- and tris-BDT monomers is reported; these monomers are subsequently used in Stille copolymerizations...

The electronic structure of the hybrid interface between ZnO and the prototypical organic semiconductor PTCDI is investigated via a combination of ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS/XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The interfacial electronic interactions lead to a large interface dipole due to substantial ch...

A method for fabricating a contact (240) for a solar cell (200). The method includes providing a solar cell substrate (210) with a surface that is covered or includes an antireflective coating (220). For example, the substrate (210) may be positioned adjacent or proximate to an outlet of an inkjet printer (712) or other deposition device. The metho...

Copper nitride (Cu3N) thin films were grown by reactive sputtering using a high-throughput combinatorial approach with orthogonal gradients of substrate temperature and target–substrate distance. This technique enables high-throughput modulation of the anion activity, and is broadly applicable to the combinatorial synthesis of other materials. Stab...

Silver nanowire (AgNW)-based transparent contacts are promising alternatives to transparent conducting oxides for solar cells owing to their promising optoelectronic properties. However, there is a need to improve issues such as adhesion to substrate, surface roughness, thermal instability, and loose contact between wires. If these issues could be...

The band gap increase in Zn(Mg)O alloys with increasing Mg enables tunable control of the conduction band alignment. However, the conductivity decreases monotonically with increasing Mg. Here, we show that the leading cause of the conductivity decrease is the increased formation of acceptor-like compensating intrinsic defects, such as zinc vacancie...

The increase of the band gap in Zn1-xMgxO alloys with added Mg facilitates tunable control of the conduction band alignment and the Fermi-level position in oxide-heterostructures. However, the maximal conductivity achievable by doping decreases considerably at higher Mg compositions, which limits practical application as a wide-gap transparent cond...

Understanding processing-property relationships of a precursor is important for achieving the desired properties in opto-electronic thin-films. This work highlights the construction of a processing-phase diagram of the novel In2O3 precursor In5O(OPri)(13) for transparent conducting oxide applications. The decomposition behavior of the precursor was...

Defect tolerance is the tendency of a semiconductor to keep its properties despite the presence of crystallographic defects. Scientific understanding of the origin of defect tolerance is currently missing. Here we show that semiconductors with antibonding states at the top of the valence band are likely to be tolerant to defects. Theoretical calcul...

Self-doping of cations on the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in spinel oxides creates “anti-site” defects, which results in functional optical, electronic, magnetic, and other materials properties. Previously, we divded the III–II spinel family into four doping types (DTs) based on first-principle calculations in order to understand their electri...

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is actively studied as a prototypical material for energy conversion and electronic applications. Here we reduce the growth temperature of phase pure Cu2O thin films to 300 °C by intentionally controlling solely the kinetic parameter (total chamber pressure, Ptot) at fixed thermodynamic condition (0.25 mTorr pO2). A strong non-...

In this work, the impact of cation disorder on the electrical properties of biaxially textured Co2ZnO4 and Co2NiO4 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition are investigated using a combination of experiment and theory. Resonant elastic X‐ray diffraction along with conductivity measurements both before and after post‐deposition annealing show tha...

Historically, the point-contact metal-insulator-metal (MIM) architecture constituted the first approach for making MIM diodes for high-frequency rectification applications. Point-contact MIM rectifiers have been shown to operate at frequencies as high as 150 THz. In the last 3 decades, point-contact architectures have given way to more stable plana...

We show in this article that the position of semiconductor band edges relative to the water reduction and oxidation levels can be reliably predicted from the ionization potentials (IP) and electron affinities (AE) only. Using a set of 17 materials, including transition metal compounds, we show that accurate surface dependent IPs and EAs of semicond...

Next-generation thin film solar cell technologies require earth abundant photovoltaic absorber materials. Here we demonstrate an alternative approach to design of such materials, evaluating candidates grouped by constituent elements rather than underlying crystal structures. As an example, we evaluate thermodynamic stability, electrical transport,...

Non-equilibrium state defines physical properties of materials in many technologies, including architectural, metallic, and semiconducting amorphous glasses. In contrast, crystalline electronic and energy materials, such as transparent conductive oxides (TCO), are conventionally thought to be in equilibrium. Here, we demonstrate that high electrica...

To accelerate the design and discovery of novel functional materials, here, p-type transparent conducting oxides, an inverse design approach is formulated, integrating three steps: i) articulating the target properties and selecting an initial pool of candidates based on “design principles”, ii) screening this initial pool by calculating the “selec...

We report on synthesis, stability, electronic structure and optical properties of CuTaN2 with the delafossite crystal structure and its potential use as an absorber for solar energy conversion applications. According to theoretical first-principles calculations, the formation enthalpy of CuTaN2 is negative (-0.66 eV/atom), but this material is meta...

With recent advances in flexible electronics, there is a growing need for transparent conductors with optimum conductivity tailored to the application and nearly zero residual stress to ensure mechanical reliability. Within amorphous transparent conducting oxide (TCO) systems, a variety of sputter growth parameters have been shown to separately imp...

This work expands on the recently reported protonation of the donor molecule 7,7′-(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-silolo[3,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl)bis(4-(5′-hexyl-[2,2′-bithiophen]-5-yl)-[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-c]pyridine) (d-DTS(PTTh2)2) by the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) interlayer to include an electrosta...

Methods of forming metal contacts with metal inks in the manufacture of photovoltaic devices are disclosed. The metal inks are selectively deposited on semiconductor coatings by inkjet and aerosol apparatus. The composite is heated to selective temperatures where the metal inks burn through the coating to form an electrical contact with the semicon...

Nanoparticles and nanostructures with plasmonic resonances are currently being employed to enhance the efficiency of solar cells. Ag stripe arrays have been shown theoretically to enhance the short-circuit current of thin silicon layers. Such Ag stripes are combined with 200 nm long and 60 nm wide "teeth", which act as nanoantennas, and form vertic...

The authors report the performance of various planar metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunneling diodes, which are being investigated for use in rectenna devices for energy harvesting applications. Six cathode materials (M-2): Nb, Ag, Cu, Ni, Au, and Pt are studied in conjunction with Nb as the anode (M-1) and Nb2O5 (I) as the dielectric. The cathode mat...

The authors report the performance of various planar metal–insulator–metal (MIM) tunneling diodes, which are being investigated for use in rectenna devices for energy harvesting applications. Six cathode materials (M 2): Nb, Ag, Cu, Ni, Au, and Pt are studied in conjunction with Nb as the anode (M 1) and Nb 2 O 5 (I) as the dielectric. The cathode...

Nanoscale metal–insulator–metal (MIM) diodes consisting of a nanoscale-thickness insulator layer sandwiched between two dissimilar metal layers offer the potential for very high frequency alternating current to direct current signal rectification. Active nanoscale tuning of electronic tunneling through the insulator layer to form point contact diod...

The influence of semiconductor layer morphology on the performance of solution-processed ZnO/Cu2O photovoltaics has been examined. ZnO films were prepared using three highly scalable, cost-effective methods: electrodeposition, zinc acetate decomposition, and diethyl zinc decomposition. To optimize device performance, it is found that a low density...

Copper nitride (Cu3N) is a potential next-generation Earth abundant thin film solar cell absorber material. We performed reduction of Cu3N combinatorial optical and structural vector data to scalar metrics, and subsequent correlation of these metrics with other scalar quantities, such as isotropic bulk electrical conductivity or target-substrate di...

Amorphous In-Zn-O (a-IZO) transparent conducting oxides with conductivity σ ≈ 3000 S/cm can be sputter deposited at ambient temperature, are damp-heat resistant and have been demonstrated to work well as transparent contacts for CIGS PV and Epi-Si PV. However, the high cost of ceramic In-Zn-O sputter targets has limited the widespread use of a-IZO...

Discovery of new materials is important for all fields of chemistry. Yet, existing compilations of all known ternary inorganic solids still miss many possible combinations. Here we present an example of accelerated discovery of the missing materials using Inverse Design approach, which couples predictive first principles theoretical calculations wi...

Controlling steric interactions between neighboring repeat units in donor–acceptor (D–A) alternating copolymers can positively impact morphologies and intermolecular electronic interactions necessary to obtain high performances in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Herein, we design and synthesize 12 new conjugated D–A copolymers, employing ethyny...

The effect of film stress on crystallite nucleation is investigated in 0.11 μm thick, thermally annealed hydrogenated amorphous silicon films. Using a recently developed optical method, the crystallite density is measured as the films are isochronally annealed at 600 °C, which enables the determination of the crystallite nucleation rate. This rate...

The Seebeck coefficient is a key indicator of the majority carrier type (electrons or holes) in a material. The recent trend toward the development of combinatorial materials research methods has necessitated the development of a new high-throughput approach to measuring the Seebeck coefficient at spatially distinct points across any sample. The ov...

The role of work function and thermodynamic selectivity of hole collecting contacts on the origin of open circuit voltage (VOC) in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics is examined for poly(N-9′-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole) (PCDTBT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) sola...

We report on the investigation of nickel cobalt oxide (NixCo3−xO4) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition as hole-transport interlayers (HTL) in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Films of 7 nm thickness were grown under various oxygen deposition pressures (pO2) in the range of 2–200 mTorr. We explore both bulk and surface properties of these...

A systematic study of the role of insulator layer on rectification performance in metal-insulator-metal structures is reported. Four different MIM systems with Nb/Pt metal pairs and Nb(2) O(5) , TiO(2) , Al(2) O(3) , MgO as the insulator candidates are investigated based on an empirical hypothesis. As per the hypothesis and the experimental verific...