Ceramic Barrier Layers for Flexible Thin Film Solar Cells on Metallic Substrates: A Laboratory Scale Study for Process Optimization and Barrier Layer Properties

Flexible thin film solar cells are an alternative to both utility-scale and building integrated photovoltaic installations. The fabrication of these devices over electrically conducting low-cost foils requires the deposition of dielectric barrier layers to flatten the substrate surface, provide electrical isolation between the substrate and the device, and avoid the diffusion of metal impurities during…

Characterization of porous graphitic monoliths from pyrolyzed wood

Porous graphitic carbons were obtained from wood precursors using Ni as a graphitization catalyst during pyrolysis. The structure of the resulting material retains that of the original wood precursors with highly aligned, hierarchical porosity. Thermal characterization was performed by means of thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry, and the onset temperature for graphitization was determined to…

Supported Co catalysts prepared as thin films by magnetron sputtering for sodium borohydride and ammonia borane hydrolysis

Supported Co catalysts were prepared for sodium borohydride and ammonia borane hydrolysis by magnetron sputtering for the first time under different conditions. Ni foam was selected as support. Deposition conditions (time, pressure, and power) were varied to improve catalytic activity. A decrease in deposition power from 200 to 50 W, leads to a decrease in…

On the formation of the porous structure in nanostructured a-Si coatings deposited by dc magnetron sputtering at oblique angles

The formation of the porous structure in dc magnetron sputtered amorphous silicon thin films at low temperatures is studied when using helium and/or argon as the processing gas. In each case, a-Si thin films were simultaneously grown at two different locations in the reactor which led to the assembly of different porous structures. The set…

Simultaneous quantification of light elements in thin films deposited on Si substrates using proton EBS (Elastic Backscattering Spectroscopy)

Quantification of light elements content in thin films is an important and difficult issue in many technological fields such as polymeric functional thin films, organic thin film devices, biomaterials, and doped semiconducting structures. Light elements are difficult to detect with techniques based on X-ray emission, such as energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX). Other techniques,…

Influence of the synthesis parameter on the interlayer and framework structure of lamellar octadecyltrimethylammonium kanemite

Inorganic–organic nanostructures, used as host materials for selective adsorption of functional molecules and as mesostructured material precursors, can be constructed by the interlayer modification of inorganic layered materials with surfactants. The formation mechanism is mainly determined by the surfactant assemblies in the 2D limited space. In this paper, a detailed structural analysis of the lamellar…

Desarrollo de procesos de combustión catalítica de hidrógeno y estudio de su integración en dispositivos para aplicaciones portátiles

El hidrógeno como vector de transporte y almacenamiento de energía es un candidato muy atractivo en el contexto de un mayor uso de las energías renovables y limpias. La producción y el uso de la energía basada en la tecnología del hidrógeno es de especial relevancia en pequeña escala para aplicaciones portátiles (y potencialmente escalable…