New study raises possibility of production of P-type solar cells

Iranian researchers from Shahid Beheshti University produced nanoparticles in homogenous particle sizes to make possible the production of p-type pigment solar cells.
Increase in the efficiency of solar cells and decrease in the production costs are among the advantages of these nanoparticles' application.
Nanoparticles produced in this research are copper-chrome oxide (CuCrO2). These nanoparticles are among very rare p-type transparent oxide semi-conductors that can be used in the production of p-type pigment solar cells. The production of nanoparticles with very narrow distribution and small size (almost 90% of nanoparticles are about 15 nm in size) are among the main achievements of this research. However, the most important achievement is the production of copper-chrome oxide single crystals.
According to Morteza Assemi, one of the researchers, very few studies have so far been carried out on p-type pigment solar cells because p-type transparent oxide semi-conductors are not usually available. P-type pigment solar cells can be produced by using copper-chrome oxide nanoparticles. It is considered a big step towards increasing the efficiency of pigment solar cells.
Sol-gel method was used in this research. Assemi believes that this method can be considered as an efficient process for the mass production and commercialization of nanoparticles. Moreover, the nanoparticles play more important role in the production of solar cells due to their narrow distribution, homogenous size (about 15 nm), and single crystalline structure. In other words, an increase in the cell efficiency is equivalent to reduction in the operational cost of the solar cell.
Results of the research have been published in Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, vol. 70, issue 3, February 2014, pp. 416-421.