Laboratory of thin film energy materials

Nimetus
Laboratory of chemical thin film technologies (until February 28, 2023)
Research classification (Frascati)
Head of the research group
Keyword
solar cells
photocatalytic coatings
Overview
The key competences of the Laboratory of Thin Film Chemical Technologies are:‚ Development of metal oxide and chalcogenide thin films and nanostructures by cost-effective chemical and vacuum based technologies.‚ Development of solar cells, incl. semitransparent, for building, product integrated, indoor and IoT applications.‚ Development of surface coatings for air and water purification; antimicrobial, electronic devices, gas sensors applications.
Important results
‚ Based on thermoanalytical studies, we proved that the new precursor, tris (Oethyldithiocarbonato) -antimony (III), is suitable for deposition of Sb2S3 thin film at low temperatures and can be used indifferent types of solar cells.‚ Solar cells based on Sb2Se3 thin films deposited by close spaced sublimation method resulted in efficiency of 5.3%; we described the crystallite orientation and deep defects in the Sb2Se3 crystals.‚ We described the mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of pollutants on ZnO/NiOand ZnO/CuxO heterostructures, demonstrating up to 50% higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency compared to ZnO. The results pave the way for more efficient photocatalytic materials.