Current fossil fuel based energy sources have a huge shortcoming when one discusses their efficiency. The conversion efficiency of fossil fuel-based technologies is less than 40% in best cases. Therefore, until the renewable energy section is mature enough to handle all the energy demand one has to research and develop the technologies available to harvest the energy from the waste heat generated in fossil fuel-based supply sources. One of these emerging technologies is the use of thermoelectric (TE) devices to achieve this goal, which are solid-state devices capable of directly interconverting between heat and electrical energy. In the past decade there has been a significant scientific and financial investment within the field to enhance their properties and result in time/energy efficient fabrication processes of TE materials and devices for a more sustainable environment. In this thesis with use of chemical synthesis routes for nanostructured bulk thermoelectric materials iron antimonide (FeSb2), skutterudites (based on general formula of RzMxCo1-xSb3-yNy) and copper selenide (Cu2Se) are developed. These materials are promising candidates for use in thermoelectric generators (TEG) or for sensing applications. Using chemical synthesis routes such as chemical co-precipitation, salt melting in marginal solvents and thermolysis, fabrication of these TE materials with good performance can be performed with high degree of reproducibility, in a much shorter time, and easily scalable manner for industrial processes. The TE figure of merit ZT of these materials is comparable to, or better than their conventional method counterparts to ensure the applicability of these processes in industrial scale. Finally, through thorough investigation, optimized consolidation parameters were generated for compaction of each family of materials using Spark Plasma Sintering technique (SPS). As each family of TE nanomaterial investigated in this thesis had little to no prior consolidation literature available, specific parameters had to be studied and generated. The aim of studies on compaction parameters were to focus on preservation of the nanostructured features of the powder while reaching a high compaction density to have positive effects on the materials TE figure of merit. / Dagens fossilbränslebaserade energikällor har en enorm brist gällande effektivitet. Effektiviteten av fossilbränslebaserade teknologiers omvandling är mindre än 40 % i bästa fall. Därför tills förnybar energi är mogen nog att hantera alla energibehov, måste man forska och utveckla teknik för att skörda energi från spillvärme i fossilbränslebaserade försörjningskällor. En av dessa nya tekniker är tillämpning av termoelektriska (TE) material för att uppnå målet. Nämnde material är Soldi-State materialer som kan transformera mellan värme och elektrisk energi. Under det senaste decenniet har det pågått en stor vetenskaplig och ekonomisk investering inom området för att förbättra termoelektriska materials egenskaper. Dessutom ville man ta fram tid/energieffektiva TE material och komponenter för en mer hållbar miljö. I denna avhandling utvecklades och producerades termoelektriska material såsom järn antimonid (FeSb2), skutterudit (baserat på allmänna formeln RzMxCo1-xSb3-YNY) och koppar selenid (Cu2Se) med hjälp av kemiska syntesmetoder. Genom att Använda kemiska syntesmetoder som kemisk samutfällning, salt smältning i marginella lösningsmedel och termolys, kan material med hög grad av reproducerbarhet och ställbar för industriella processer tillverkas.   Termoelektrisk omvandling effektivitet hos uppnådde material är betydligt högre än resultat av andra studier. I och med detta kan man säga att materialet kan användas inom industri. Slutligen, genom en grundlig undersökning optimerades packningsparametrar som genererades för packning av varje materialgrupp med hjälp av Spark Plasma Sintring teknik (SPS). Eftersom ingen relevant studie finns för varje grupp av termoelektriska nanomaterial som undersökts i denna avhandling, studerades och genererades dessa specifika parametrar. Syftet med studien är att fokusera på bevarande av nanostrukturerade egenskaperna hos pulvret och att samtidigt nå en hög packningstäthet för att ha positiva effekter på materialens termoelektriska omvandlingseffektivitet. / <p>QC 20160503</p> / NEXTEC / SCALTEG

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.

M. Tech. (Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences) Vaal University of Technology. / Chemical precipitation method is the most widely used of all methods for preparing good quality semiconductor nanoparticles. Several conditions are optimized for producing the desired size and shape of particles. The parameters such as capping molecule, precursor concentration, time and temperature were investigated using the colloidal hot injection method. The effect of capping agent was the first parameter investigated in the synthesis of copper selenide, copper sulphide and copper oxide nanoparticles. The capping agents of interest in this study were oleylamine (OLA) and trioctylphosphine (TOP), due to their ability to act as reducing agents, surfactant, solvent and enhancement of colloidal stabilization. The use of oleylamine and trioctylphosphine were carried out at 220 °C for 30 minutes. The optical and structural properties of the yielded nanoparticles were characterize using UV/Vis spectroscopy, TEM and XRD and showed dependence on the type capping interactions from the two agents. Nanoparticles synthesized using TOP produced two phases whereas a single phase was observed from OLA as confirmed by XRD. OLA produced bigger particle sizes compared to TOP but with a wider variety of shapes. The wide variety of particle structures of OLA capped nanoparticles was advantageous since different types of bacteria were targeted in this work. Therefore, other synthetic parameters were investigated using OLA as both solvent and capping molecule. Precursor concentration ratio showed bigger effect in the size, and shape of the yielded nanoparticles. For copper selenide and copper sulphide (Cu: Se/ S), 1:1 concentration ratio gave the best optical and structural properties while copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles demonstrated its best optical and structural properties in 2:1 ratio (Cu: O). Nonetheless, 1:1 precursor concentration ratio was used to optimise other parameters. Since reaction time has a profound effect on the nanocrystals size and shapes, the effect of reaction time in OLA was also investigated. The reaction time showed no effect on the phase composition of the synthesized copper sulphide, copper oxide and copper selenide nanoparticles. Reaction time of 30 minutes gave the best optical (the shape of the absorption band edge and emission maxima values) and structural (size distribution of particles) properties for CuSe and CuS compared to other reaction times (15 min, 45 and 60 min). 15 min reaction time gave the best optical and structural properties for copper oxide but nonetheless, 30 min was used as the optimum reaction time for further optimization. Temperature showed an effect in size, shape and the stoichiometry of the reaction. These effects were confirmed by the optical and structural properties of the synthesized nanoparticles. XRD patterns revealed some differences with the temperature change, indicating an effect on the phase composition of CuS and CuO but not on CuSe nanoparticles. CuSe and CuS nanoparticles synthesized at 220 °C gave the ideal optical and morphological features compared to other temperatures that were selected (160 ºC, 190 ºC and 240 ºC). Nonetheless, CuO revealed its best optical and structural properties at 160 ºC. 220 ºC was deduced to be the optimum temperature for the synthesis of these three materials under the synthetic conditions. The optimum parameter (220 ºC, 30 min and 1:1 ratio) were used to synthesize the three copper chalcogenides which were then tested against Gram-negative (E. coli and P. aeruginosa), Gram-positive (S. aureus and E. faecalis), and fungi (C. albicans). The plant species, Combretum molle and Acacia mearnsii were phytochemical screened for the presence of active organic compounds and the content of total phenols, flavonoids and antioxidants using different solvents. Both C. molle and A. mearnsii revealed the highest phenolic content in acetone extracts. C. molle revealed its highest flavonoid content in methanol extract and its highest free radical scavenging activity in acetone extract. Acetone extracts demonstrated the highest flavonoid content as well as the highest free radical scavenging activity of A. meansii. The solubility of copper chalcogenides and plant extract was tested in four different solvents and the solvent that demonstrated highest solubility was used for the coordination of the plant extract and copper chalcogenides. The plant extract coordinated nanoparticles were tested for their antibacterial and antifungal activity. Their results were compared to those of the active ingredient in their respective solvents from the medicinal plants as well as those of copper chalcogenides nanoparticles without plant extracts using diffusion disk and MICs methods. The synthesized nanoparticles showed better performance than plant extracts with copper oxide performing the best, followed by copper selenide and lastly by copper sulfide. The performance of plants extracts highly dependent on the solvent of extract with acetone showing the best performance for both C. molle and A. Mearnsii followed by ethanol. The addition of active ingredients from C. molle and A. mearnsii to the synthesized nanoparticles did not enhance the performance of these nanoparticles.

No description available.

We developed a three-step colloidal synthesis of near-infrared active Cu-In-Se (CISe)/ZnS core/shell nanocrystals (NCs) via a sequential partial cation exchange. In the first step binary highly copper deficient Cu2‒xSe NCs were synthesized, followed by a partial cation exchange of copper to indium ions yielding CISe NCs. In order to enhance the stability and the photoluminescence (PL) properties of the NCs, a subsequent ZnS shell was grown, resulting in CISe/ZnS core/shell NCs. These core/shell hetero-NCs exhibited a dramatic increase in size and a restructuring to trigonal pyramidal particles. The reaction parameters, e.g. the Cu:Se-ratio, the temperature and the time were carefully tuned enabling a distinct control over the size and the composition of the NCs. By varying only the size of the CISe/ZnS NCs (from 9 to 18 nm) the PL spectra could be tuned covering a wide range with maxima from 990 nm to 1210 nm. Thus, in these experiments we demonstrate a clear dependence of the optical properties of these materials on their size and extend the PL range of CISe-based nanoparticles further to the infrared part of the spectrum. Furthermore, the relatively large size of these NCs allows their detailed structural analysis via electron microscopy techniques, which is particularly challenging in the case of small particles and especially important to relate the size, composition and crystal structure to their optoelectronic properties.