Synthesis, structural and thermodynamic characterization of alkali metal selenides

The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the growing interest in renewable energy sources are well known so, the investigation of the chemistry and physics of alkali selenides and doping for thin film CIGS solar cells is the topic of this project. CIGS cells are crystalline silicon and thin film technologies based on amorphous silicon and copper indium gallium diselenide Cu(In,Ga)Se2. Doping by alkali metal selenides can lead to improve optoelectronic properties through two effects located one at grain boundaries and one within the grain. The objectives of this project are the development of a synthesis strategy, study thermodynamic properties of the synthesised materials and understanding the effect of doping with alkali and the vacuum exposure of thin film conductor. Various techniques such as SEM/EDS, XRD on powder and single crystal will be used to characterize the synthesized materials while from the point of view of thermodynamic properties, dissolution calorimetry, DSC-TG instrument will be mainly used.