Sharif Digital Repository

Metal oxide semiconductors are promising materials for photovoltaic systems, because they are chemically stable, almost non-toxic and abundant. These materials are cheap and have low cost fabrication process. Cu2O is the most popular metal oxide semiconductor to absorb light in Photovoltaic (PV) applications, and photocathode in the photoelectrochemical systems.In this project, thermal oxide and electrodeposition methods, both interesting and cheap, were applied for preparing Cu2O films. As inexpensive materials results in low-minority carrier diffusion length, we report on surface engineering of bulk Cu2O photocathode thorough employing nanorods of copper oxide with the average lengths of... 

In recent years, organo-metal perovskite solar cells have attracted remarkable attention due to their low cost manufacturing method as well as the rapid growth of efficiency. Despite the fast growing efficiency of organo-metal perovskite solar cells, there are big challenges around their low stability under real operational condition. In addition to extrinsic parameters like oxygen and humidity, intrinsic instability of perovskite rises mainly from ion migration in perovskite film. In order to understand the ion migration and its effect on photovoltaic parameters of the devices, appropriate characterizations and analysis are needed. Since ions are much slower compare to electrons, their... 

Nowadays, beside of two-dimensional tungsten disulfide nanosheets, its hybrid nanostructures also provide active sites for physisorption of gas molecules due to their high surface-to-volume ratio, surface active site (such as sulfur vacancies, surface defects, and p-n junctions) and active edges, and are very attractive for gas sensing applications. In this research, tungsten disulfide layered crystallines were grown by chemical vapor phase transport and its two-dimensional nanoflakes were prepared by liquid exfoliation method. So, a thin film of the nanoflakes was deposited on a silicon oxide substrate by drop casting method, and its gas sensing properties were investigated for water and... 

Humans need the five senses to understand and interact constructively with their surrounding environment; in the world of robots and intelligent systems, this is achieved using sensors. In the modern world, tactile sensors based on triboelectric effect play a prominent role in important application areas such as health monitoring, human-computer interaction, robotics, pressure mapping, and electronic signature. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are one type of energy harvesting systems that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. In these sensors, due to the contact and touch with the triboelectric material, an electric charge is generated and induced into the electrode, then... 

In this study, transparent conductive thin film of Aluminum doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) have been fabricated thorough RF sputtering. The main goal of fabrication of these layers is achieving thin films with minimum resistivity and maximum optical transparency in visible range of spectrum employing as transparent electrodes and buffer layer at the entirely oxidized solar cells. To achieve the suitable structure, various parameters including pressure, power and the thickness of the deposition and annealing on morphologies of thin film has been investigated. According to these results, thin film of ZnO:Al has the transparency of 80% in the visible light range . Doping of ZnO with Aluminum caused... 

Solar cells, as a part of photovoltaics (PV) industry, have a significant share in the renewable energy market. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and thin film solar cells (TFSCs) achieved 23% and 22% power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) respectively. However, the PV industry still faces challenges like “high manufacturing costs” and “stability”. Among the strategies to overcome these challenges are substitution of the costly materials with cheaper, more abundant ingredients along with utilizing inexpensive deposition methods like printing rather than vacuum-based methods such as evaporation and sputtering. Carbon materials attract more attention in the solar cell research community for their... 

In this research, we focus on study and investigation of the role of Tin(IV) Sulfide (SnS2) nanostructured layer as electron transport layer in perovskite and chalcogenide thin film solar cells. For this purpose, SnS2 powder was prepared through hydro/solvo-thermal method, utilizing different ratios of water and ethanol as solvent and various sulfur sources (thioacetamide and thiourea). Afterwards, different solvents were investigated to achieve a stable ink (about one month) with uniform dispersion. After determining the appropriate ink and powder, thin films of SnS2 were prepared employing spin coating, spray pirolysis and laser pulsed deposition (PLD) methods and characterized. With each... 

In the last half century, the recording of the electrophysiological activities of the neurons has been one of the most effective methods for neuroscience development. One of the techniques used to record the activity of the nerve cells is the use of multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). Current MEAs still face limitations such as low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and low spatial resolution. There is a need to develop arrays that are smaller in size and have less impedance to achieve better spatial resolution and lower noise levels. The main focus of this research is on the designing and fabrication of multi-electrode arrays and improvement of their properties using nanostructures and conductive... 

H2S is a toxic and corrosive gas which is detrimental for both human’s health and some of important industries such as oil and gas. Based on different experimental research among various systems, resistive sensors fabricated from SnO2-CuO nanostructures have promising performance toward detection of this gas. High sensitivity and selectivity, response time of order of seconds, recovery times of order of tens of seconds and determining concentration of H2S gas below ppm level are advantages of this system. Unfortunately due to lack of a theoretical model, current experimental researches are excessively based on “trial and error” methodology. In this research some of the basic questions which... 

Active packaging is a novel approach that can ensure food safety by removing undesirable compounds such as Oxygen, ethylene, moisture, and microbial contamination from fresh produce's environment and reducing product loss by extending shelf life. Current research on active food packaging materials focuses on using biopolymers such as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids as alternatives to non-degradable petroleum-based packaging materials. Active nanomaterials are commonly used to impart functionality to packaging materials. However, the lack of functionality limits their industrial application.Therefore, the main objective of this work was to fabricate bioactive nanocomposite films by... 

In this thesis, we focus on studying and fabrication of doped titanium dioxide electrodes and their application in nanostructured dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For this purpose, non-metallic nitrogen (N) and metallic neodymium (Nd) elements were selected. N-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized via solvothermal method and their structural and optoelectrical properties were investigated in comparison to undoped titanium dioxide synthesized by the same method. Based on the obtained results, doping of titanium dioxide by nitrogen resulted in shifting the Fermi level up-ward, increase in charge carriers density, shift of optical absorbance to higher wavelength, and decrease... 

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) works based on the accumulation of electrostatic charges produced on the surface of two dissimilar materials while they are brought into physical contact. When the surfaces are separated by a mechanical force, the induced triboelectric charges generate a potential drop, which can lead to generate an electrical current. Since their invention in 2012, TENGs have shown a rapid development in diversity of structure, amount of output power and range of applications, such as self-powered sensors, touch pads, and smart skin. Various kinds of mechanical force can be used for producing electrical energy: human motion, walking, vibration, rotating tire, wind, flowing...