Thin film solar cells can significantly reduce the materials cost. However, enhanced light trapping structures such as non-close packed nanoparticle arrays are necessary to make these physically "thin" solar cells optically "thick". This poster will report our progress toward developing a low-cost, high throughput, and precise spacing control technology by integrating convective flow coating and electric-field assisted assembly. On the one hand, we specifically investigate some key parameters for convective flow coating, such as the effect of substrates' wettability, deposition velocity, and particle size. On the other hand, non-close packed arrays can be obtained under the AC electrical field due to the induced dipolar repulsion between neighboring particles. In order to permanently fix this array onto the substrate, an additional DC electrical field pulse is applied, which not only induces the electrophoretic attraction between particles and substrate, but also induces attractive flow between neighboring particles. Therefore, the applied DC field strength and duration are critical. By carefully tuning the DC field, we can balance the AC- field induced dipolar repulsion and DC induced electro hydrodynamic flow attraction, so the particle arrays can be fixed while maintaining the non-close packed pattern.

Electric-field assisted coating of nanoparticles for photon management nanostructures

249th National Meeting (2015)

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