Semiconductor Materials for Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell Applications
5. Semiconductor Materials for Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell Applications
CuSCN is a p-type semiconductor and has applications in dye-sensitized solar cell applications. Investigations of the CuSCN system have been very sparse with only limited X-ray structural data being reported. Furthermore, although CuSCN exhibits well-defined polymorphism there have been no investigations into the thermal transformations that may exist and their possible relationship to photocurrent production and solar-cell efficiency.
This project will use solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, neutron and X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy, and computational methods (DFT and MO) to characterise the primary polymorph structures and analyse their unit-cell behaviour upon thermal transformation. Further investigations into the structural chemistry of these systems will seek to lower the three-dimensional nature of the network structure to a one-dimensional chain by selectively functionalizing the thiocyanate framework. Studies of the alteration to photocurrent densities that are induced by these changes will then be made.
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Fuel Cell Research
Lithium conducting materials for lithium-battery applications