Tandem solar cells fabricated from thin films provide promise of improved efficiency while keeping the processing costs low. CdSe as top cells are investigated in this work. CIGS has been a standardized process with lab efficiencies reaching 18% [53]. This dissertation focuses on the development of conductive window layer for the development of a high performance, high bandgap solar cell. ZnSe, Cu2-xSe, and ZnSexTe1-x are investigated as viable window layers of the top cell. ZnSe in undoped form forms a good junction with CdSe films, but the Voc from these devices could never exceed the 360mV mark, while the current densities approached 17.5mA/cm2 [61].To improve Voc's, the high contact energy at the ZnSe/Cu interface has to be overcome by replacing Cu with a metal having higher work function or doping the window layer to form a tunneling contact with Copper.Deposition of ZnSe from binary sources in presence of nitrogen plasma resulted in films with proper stoichiometry. However, doping could not be accomplished. ZnTe is easily dopable, and was the next alternative. ZnTe doping in presence of Nitrogen plasma resulted in Zn rich films. Hence doping of the ternary compound ZnSexTe1-x was considered. This work focuses on studying the effects of compositional variation on the conductivity of the ZnSexTe1-x films. ZnSexTe1-x films were doped using Nitrogen. Films were deposited by co-evaporation from ZnTe, ZnSe and Se sources. Te/Se ratio was varied by varying the ZnTe thickness and Se Thickness. Films with Zn/Group VI ratio close to 1 were measured for conductivity using IV measurements. Highest conductivity of 2* 10-8 ohm-cm was obtained at ZnSe, ZnTe, and Se thicknesses of 2000Ã?, 1500Ã?, and 500Ã? respectively. The actual carrier concentration could be concealed by the current limiting Cu contacts. All films with Zn/Group VI ratio close to 1 showed slight conductivity in the 10-10 ohm-cm range. Layered ZnSexTe1-x Films doped with Nitrogen had targeted Zn/Group VI ratio of 1, but with a higher Te content. The films were also slightly conductive, in the 10-10 ohm-cm range. The mechanism limiting the doping in all the films seems to be the same.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 141 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-141).

Doping in bulk semiconductors (e.g., n- or p- type doping in silicon) allows for precise control of their properties and forms the basis for the development of electronic and photovoltaic devices. Recently, there have been reports on the successful synthesis of doped semiconductor nanocrystals (or quantum dots) for potential applications in solar cells and spintronics. For example, nanocrystals of ZnSe (with zinc-blende lattice structure) and CdSe and ZnO (with wurtzite lattice structure) have been doped successfully with transition-metal (TM) elements (Mn, Co, or Ni). Despite the recent progress, however, the underlying mechanisms of doping in colloidal nanocrystals are not well understood. This thesis reports a comprehensive theoretical analysis toward a fundamental kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of doping in ZnO, CdSe, and ZnSe quantum dots based on first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The theoretical predictions of this thesis are consistent with experimental measurements and provide fundamental interpretations for the experimental observations. The mechanisms of doping of colloidal ZnO nanocrystals with the TM elements Mn, Co, and Ni is investigated. The dopant atoms are found to have high binding energies for adsorption onto the Zn-vacancy site of the (0001) basal surface and the O-vacancy site of the (0001) basal surface of ZnO nanocrystals; therefore, these surface vacancies provide viable sites for substitutional doping, which is consistent with experimental measurements. However, the doping efficiencies are affected by the strong tendencies of the TM dopants to segregate at the nanocrystal surface facets, as indicated by the corresponding computed dopant surface segregation energy profiles. Furthermore, using the Mn doping of CdSe as a case study, the effect of nanocrystal size on doping efficiency is explored. It is shown that Mn adsorption onto small clusters of CdSe is characterized by high binding energies, which, in conjunction with the Mn surface segregation characteristics on CdSe nanocrystals, explains experimental reports of high doping efficiency for small-size CdSe clusters. In addition, this thesis presents a systematic analysis of TM doping in ZnSe nanocrystals. The analysis focuses on the adsorption and surface segregation of Mn dopants on ZnSe nanocrystal surface facets, as well as dopant-induced nanocrystal morphological transitions, and leads to a fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms of dopant incorporation into growing nanocrystals. Both surface kinetics (dopant adsorption onto the nanocrystal surface facets) and thermodynamics (dopant surface segregation) are found to have a significant effect on the doping efficiencies in ZnSe nanocrystals. The analysis also elucidates the important role in determining the doping efficiency of ZnSe nanocrystals played by the chemical potentials of the growth precursor species, which determine the surface structure and morphology of the nanocrystals.

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In addition, we have studied the growth conditions and the properties of ZnSSe alloy nano-tetrapods grown by chemical vapor deposition. Different from the ZnSSe nanowires synthesized by MOCVD, the ZnSSe nano-tetrapods are of hexagonal structure. We observed a wavelength-tunable near band gap luminescence in the UV-blue region from this nanostructurally-designed system. / Recently, semiconductor nanostructures have attracted much attention because they are potentially useful as fundamental building blocks in nanodevices. As an important member of group II-VI semiconductors, ZnS and its alloys with ZnSe are particularly important for optical applications in the UV-blue region . Thus, we concentrated on the synthesis of ZnS, ZnSe and ZnSSe nanostructures and studied their optical properties. / Vertically-aligned ZnSe nanowires were also synthesized by MOCVD using Ag and Ga nanoparticles as catalysts. In the photoluminescence spectra from Ag or Ga catalyzed ZnSe nanowires, we observed recombination of excitons bound to substitutional Ag or Ga impurities respectively, which indicates that Ag and Ga have been doped into ZnSe nanowires in our experiments. / We are among the first group to grow vertically well-aligned ZnSSe alloy nanowires of controllable composition. Most of ZnSSe nanowires were found to have a cubic structure. We also found a compositional relationship between the nanowires and precursors, which is useful for predicting the lattice constant and band-gap emission energy of ZnSSe nanowires. / ZnS nanowire arrays were fabricated on the GaAs (100), (110) (311)A and (111)B substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using Ag, Au and Ga particles as catalysts. Their orientation was adjusted by changing the crystallographic orientation of the substrate. Moreover, Ga was doped into ZnS nanowires, when Ga nanoparticles serve as catalysts. / Liang, Yao = ZnS和ZnSSe納米結構的生長和光學性質 / 梁瑤. / Adviser: Hank Suikong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-11, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Liang, Yao = ZnS he ZnSSe na mi jie gou de sheng chang he guang xue xing zhi / Liang Yao.

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BACKGROUND:In a globalized word, prevention of infectious diseases is a major challenge. Rapid detection of viable virus particles in water and other environmental samples is essential to public health risk assessment, homeland security and environmental protection. Current virus detection methods, especially assessing viral infectivity, are complex and time-consuming, making point-of-care detection a challenge. Faster, more sensitive, highly specific methods are needed to quantify potentially hazardous viral pathogens and to determine if suspected materials contain viable viral particles. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with cellular-based sensing, may offer a precise way to detect specific viruses. This approach utilizes infrared light to monitor changes in molecular components of cells by tracking changes in absorbance patterns produced following virus infection. In this work poliovirus (PV1) was used to evaluate the utility of FTIR spectroscopy with cell culture for rapid detection of infective virus particles.RESULTS:Buffalo green monkey kidney (BGMK) cells infected with different virus titers were studied at 1 - 12 hours post-infection (h.p.i.). A partial least squares (PLS) regression method was used to analyze and model cellular responses to different infection titers and times post-infection. The model performs best at 8 h.p.i., resulting in an estimated root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) of 17 plaque forming units (PFU)/ml when using low titers of infection of 10 and 100 PFU/ml. Higher titers, from 103 to 106 PFU/ml, could also be reliably detected.CONCLUSIONS:This approach to poliovirus detection and quantification using FTIR spectroscopy and cell culture could potentially be extended to compare biochemical cell responses to infection with different viruses. This virus detection method could feasibly be adapted to an automated scheme for use in areas such as water safety monitoring and medical diagnostics.

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High quality ammonium oxofluorotitanate discoid crystal is successfully grown on glass with an aqueous solution of ammonium hexafluorotitanate and boric acid at the molar ratio of 0.6. The concentration of hydrofluoric acid is less on the glass substrate surface and enhances the ammonium oxofluorotitanate nucleation growth. The growth rate is much higher than that grown on dioctadecyldimethylammonium. From the examinations of X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, the crystal shows high crystalline quality and uniformity. Each titanium oxide octahedral is linked with fluorine and nitrogen atoms. Therefore, ammonium oxofluorotitanate has high potential to be thermally decomposed into high crystalline fluorine and nitrogen co-doped titanium oxide. A simple process for the preparation of nanocrystalline anatase phase titanium oxide converted from ammonium oxofluorotitanate by thermal treatment was developed. The nanocrystalline anatase phase titanium oxide shows a large bandgap reduction due to the co-doping of high concentrations of fluorine and nitrogen. Due to the excellent nanocrystalline quality and the co-doping of higher concentrations of fluorine and nitrogen at the thermal treatment temperature of 800 OC, it is 1.3 times the photocatalytic activities of P-25 due to the visble region usage of Hg lamp light source. The 11.2 times the visible photocatalytic activities of P-25 using blue light-emitting diode as the light source is obtained from thermal treatment temperature of 600 OC. There is one to one correspondence between carrier lifetime and photocatalytic activity. As a result, a highly reactive and visible-light-driven photocatalysis is achieved. The heterostructure of zinc selenide/titanium oxide and zinc sulfide/titanium oxide were prepared by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on the above-prepared titanium oxide. The energy bandgap of zinc sulfide is much larger than that of titanium oxide and can act as a window for titanium oxide. It would not hinder titanium oxide absorption and preserve the role of fluorine and nitrogen co-doping. The energy bandgap of zinc selenide is near the maximum intensity of solar spectrum and acts as a sensitizer of titanium oxide. The lifetime of electron and hole pairs of heterostructure are about 240 and 207 nsec, which are longer than 65 nsec of titanium oxide prepared at 800 oC thermal treatment. Their photocatalytic activities are further improved to 2.0 and 1.5 times higher than that of commercial P-25. The photocatalysis of titanium oxide is very sensitive to the surface states. Titanium oxide surface defects can act as trapping sites for photo-induced holes and facilitate the separation of photo-induced carriers. Zinc selenide and zinc sulfide can passivate the surface well. It may say that titanium oxide surface defects removal has a negative impact. The density, height, diameter, PL wavelength and intensity of zinc selenide self-assembled quantum dots grown on zinc sulfide/gallium arsenide with the zinc sulfide thickness from 15 to 160 nm are studied. For a fixed 30 sec zinc selenide self-assembled quantum dots growth, it cannot be formed with the zinc sulfide thickness below 15 nm due to the close lattice match between zinc sulfide and gallium arsenide. The zinc sulfide/gallium arsenide is fully lattice relaxed with the zinc sulfide thickness higher than 130 nm examined by X-ray diffraction. The higher quality and density of zinc selenide self-assembled quantum dots can be obtained on zinc sulfide/gallium arsenide with the zinc sulfide thickness far beyond its critical thickness. The maximum zinc selenide self-assembled quantum dots density of 4.9 x 109 cm-2 with the strongest photoluminescence intensity is obtained at the zinc sulfide/gallium arsenide thickness of 130 nm. Clusters are formed on the surface of zinc selenide/gallium arsenide. The selenium segregation is the main mechanism for the formation of clusters. The dislocations will enhance the selenium segregation. Higher zinc selenide cluster corresponds to higher density of dislocations. The non-spherical cluster is formed from the mergence of the two clusters. High quality zinc oxide rods and zinc hydroxide slices are successfully grown on gallium arsenide with the aqueous solution of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine. The growth can be controlled by the appropriate nitric acid concentration incorporation in the solution. After thermal annealing, the zinc oxide slices transformed from zinc hydroxide slices can contribute much higher photocatalytic activity to 1.2 times to P-25.

Les Quantum Dots (QDs) sont des particules cristallines de semi-conducteur ou du métal de forme sphérique et de dimension nanométrique. L'intérêt majeur des QDs réside dans leur grande adaptabilité à de nombreuses applications biologiques.Le but de mon travail était de développer une nouvelle classe de QDs de faible toxicité afin de les utiliser pour la bio-imagerie des cellules cancéreuses. Pour cela, il est nécessaire de préparer des sondes hydrosolubles, photostables, biocompatibles, de luminescence élevée et possédant une faible toxicité. La synthèse des cœurs de type ZnS and ZnSe dopés au manganèse ou au cuivre et stabilisés par l’acide 3-mercapropropionique ou par le 1-thioglycérol a été réalisée par la voie hydrothermale. Les techniques analytiques de caractérisation utilisées sont la spectroscopie UV-visible, la spectroscopie de fluorescence, la diffraction des rayons X (XRD), la spectroscopie photoélectronique de rayon X (XPS), la microscopie électronique à transmission (TEM), la diffusion dynamique de la lumière DLS, la spectroscopie infra-rouge (IR), et la résonance paraélectronique (RPE). La toxicité des QDs a été déterminée sur des cellules cancéreuses. Les différents test de cytotoxicité (MTT, XTT et ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange) ont été réalisés. Finalement, les QDs de type ZnS:Mn conjugués à l’acide folique ont été utilisés pour la bio-imagerie des cellules cancéreuses par le biais d’une excitation biphotonique / Semiconductor QDs are tiny light-emitting crystals, and are emerging as a new class of fluorescent labels for medicine and biology. The aim of this work was to develop a new class of non-toxic QDs probes with essential attributes such as water dispersibility, photostability, biocompatibility, high luminescence and possible excitation with low-energy visible light, using simple processing method. Such nanoprobes could be used for bio-imaging of cancer cells. In the performed studies, I focused on ZnS and ZnSe QDs as they are cadmium-free and might be excited biphotonically.The synthesis protocols of ZnS and ZnSe QDs doped with two ions such as Mn or Cu and stabilized by 3-mercaptopropionic acid or 1-thioglycerol were established, followed by NCs characterization (diameter, surface charge, photophysical properties, …) using analytical techniques such as spectrophotometry UV-vis, fluorimetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), infra-red analysis (FT-IR), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The cytotoxicity of synthesized bare and conjugated NPs was evaluated on cancer cell lines using MTT, XTT and ferrous oxidation-xylenol orange assay.Finally, chosen well fluorescent and weakly toxic types of as-prepared and characterized QDs were used for bio-imaging of cancer cells. In these experiments, FA-functionalized NCs were excited biphotonically. The performed experiments showed the potential of QDs as cancer cells fluorescent markers and that they accumulate around the cell nuclei