An FTIR Spectrometer for the Development of Nanostructured Solar Cells and Novel Fuel Cell Materials

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

0966904 Law This project will explore new ways to probe the surfaces of nanocrystalline solar cell materials and fuel cell electrodes using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry. The unique capabilities of this FTIR, including far-IR, in situ diffuse reflectance, and in situ variable-angle silicon and diamond attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy will enhance efforts to develop fuel cell cathodes with much faster kinetics for oxygen reduction, as well as robust nanocrystal solids with long carrier diffusion lengths suitable for high-efficiency solar cells. The nanocrystal work will utilize applied studies of organic and inorganic ligand exchange, molecular bonding, surface diffusion, oxidation, doping and other surface processes occurring in electronically-coupled nanocrystal films. The fuel cell work will leverage the instrument's unique in situ capabilities to explore the polarization processes of solid oxide cathodes under operating conditions. Intellectual Merit The use of FTIR to probe the surfaces of nanocrystalline solar cell materials and fuel cell electrodes will answer important questions concerning the surface composition and interfacial dynamics of these materials. For example, colloidal nanocrystal solids are a novel class of hybrid organic/inorganic materials with great technological potential in optoelectronics, but little is known about how the electronic properties of these materials depend on the atomic and molecular species that are adsorbed on their large internal surface. FTIR will help to elucidate the structure-property relationships needed to develop nanocrystal-based devices, particularly cheap and efficient solar cells for large-scale power conversion. Broader Impacts This project will fund the acquisition of a PerkinElmer Spectrum 400 Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer to support ongoing and future research projects in the areas of nanostructured solar cells and fuel cells by two assistant professors in the Physical Sciences and Engineering at UC Irvine. In addition to opening new avenues for research in alternative energy and other areas, acquisition of the proposed instrument will greatly enhance teaching and training capabilities at UCI. The instrument will be used by postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate researchers to address vital questions in their research. No fewer than 16 Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering students will utilize the instrument in the first two years. At least one hundred students will benefit from employing advanced FTIR techniques in their research over the lifetime of the instrument. The FTIR will be used in summer research programs for local high school students run by the Center for Solar Energy, in which students pursue projects in several chemistry and materials science labs over the course of the summer and present posters about their research at the Orange County Science Fair, as well as the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS-UCI), a month-long summer session funded in part by the National Science Foundation. The instrument will also be used by at least one minority undergraduate researcher every year as part of the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) Summer Scholars Program.