Date Approved

5-24-2018

Embargo Period

6-1-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MS Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering

College

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Advisor

Xue, Wei

Committee Member 1

Ramanujachary, Kandalam

Committee Member 2

Hettinger, Jeffrey

Keywords

perovskite, solar cell fabrication, thin films, dip-coating

Subject(s)

Photovoltaic power systems; Coating processes

Disciplines

Materials Science and Engineering | Mechanical Engineering | Power and Energy

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells present the possibility for less expensive electricity generation, through the use of low cost materials and fabrication methods relative to current silicon-based technology. Many current methods of fabricating thin film perovskite solar cells focus on spin-coating, which inherently lacks scalability due to particle conglomeration, poor uniformity over a larger area, and safety concerns. Dip-coating, an alternative to spin-coating, which is explored here addresses these issues which limit scalability. Each individual layer can be separately synthesized, deposited, and characterized, which leads towards scalability. Choosing only the best results from each independent layer allowed progress to the creation of a sandwich style perovskite cell fabricated through dip coating. By using a quartz crystal microbalance, the thicknesses of these uniform films has been determined to be in the desired range of under one micron. Currently, there is a photo response present, with a maximum produced voltage of 500 mV. The methods presented here create an initial starting point for the large scale manufacturing of dip coated perovskite solar cells.

Comments

Additional thesis committee member: Francis M. Haas

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