Date of Graduation

5-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Electrical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Manasreh, Omar O.

Committee Member

Ang, Simon S.

Second Committee Member

El-Shenawee, Magda O.

Third Committee Member

Khan, Mahmood A.

Keywords

Applied sciences; Iron pyrite; Photovoltaic devices; Solar cells

Abstract

Iron pyrite nanocrystals have been synthesized using a hot-injection method with a variety of amines and characterized with properties necessary for photovoltaic devices. The iron pyrite nanocrystals were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, optical absorption, micro-Raman, and micro-Photoluminescence. The optical absorbance spectra showed the large absorption in the visible and near infrared spectral range for the nanocrystals as well as to show the band gap. The face-centered cubic crystal structure of the iron pyrite nanocrystals was shown by matching the measured X-ray diffraction pattern to a face-centered cubic iron pyrite reference pattern. Using Bragg's law and Scherrer's formula helps to calculate the grain size and lattice spacing based upon the X-ray diffraction pattern. The scanning electron microscopy produces images that show the particle size of the nanocrystals while the transmission electron microscopy produced images that show the lattice spacing and grain size for the iron pyrite nanocrystals that are compared to the previously mentioned calculated grain size and lattice spacing. The micro-Raman and micro-Photoluminescence are used to compare the synthesized iron pyrite nanocrystals to natural-bulk iron pyrite. The micro-Photoluminescence is also used to calculate a band gap and compare this band gap to the one obtain by the optical absorbance spectra.

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