Running Head: THIN FILMS AS A CLEAN ENERGY ALTERNATIVE

The Effectiveness of Thin Films as a Cleaner Energy Alternative

Kyle Hilliard

STEM Early College @ NC A&T

April 22, 2022

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Introduction

The American Institute of Physics has been maintaining a record of the noticeable effects

that global warming and climate change have had on the world, dating back to the Industrial

Revolution in the 1800s. Largely reduced to mere skepticism, the question of whether or not the

greenhouse effect was even real, much less that it would prove massively detrimental to the

Earth's wellbeing, was first documented in the late 1800s by the Swedish physical chemist

Svante Arrhenius (AIP, 2022). However, even after multiple attempts to revive interest in the

issue in the early 20th century, no major objections would be raised to the exponentially

increasing amount of carbon dioxide being exposed to the Earth's atmosphere. 1977 – nearly a

full century after the first documentation of the greenhouse effect – is the first year that the

scientific community had a majority agreement that global warming was a climate risk for the

upcoming century (AIP, 2022). Even still, the U.S. would block serious calls to action not once,

but twice (once blocking the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and again

dissolving the Global Climate Coalition by ignoring the effort) after being influenced by the oil

lobby (most notably ExxonMobil) (AIP, 2022). Today, the average global temperature is 14.8˚C

– the highest in tens of thousands of years – and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is

418 ppm – the highest in millions of years – but yet, the U.S. still hasn't committed to change

(AIP, 2022).

The reasoning behind this is simple: the U.S. believes in making money first, and

worrying about the consequences later. This is simply a fact, proven repeatedly in the centuries

since the country was "born". We must take this into account when proposing cleaner energy

alternatives. The U.S. will not accept alternatives that jeopardize the efficiency of their current

way of life, no matter how environmentally detrimental that way of life may be. As such, a good
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solution to the ever-increasing issue of global warming must satisfy certain conditions:

obviously, it must be significantly better for the environment ("cleaner") than the current system.

It must also be cost-effective and -efficient, both in materials and maintenance/management.

Lastly, it must be just as – if not more – efficient than the current standard. If the solution doesn't

meet these three requirements, it is not unreasonable to deem the solution dissatisfactory.

Biggest Areas of Potential Improvement

According to the Department of Energy, heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC)

accounts for approximately 36% of electricity consumed by U.S. households. Conversely, central

air-conditioning and refrigeration accounted for 30% (Shaji et al., 2020). This disparity shows

that there is a clear need for improved refrigeration technology – refrigeration should only be a

mere fraction of a home's energy usage, especially in comparison to HVAC.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that electricity and natural gas

are the most-used energy sources in homes, representing 43% and 42%, respectively, of total

residential sector end-use energy consumption in 2020 (EIA, 2021). Petroleum (heating oil,

kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas) was the next most-used energy source, accounting for 8% of

total residential sector energy end use (EIA, 2021). However, the EIA also reported that, in 2020,

renewable energy sources (geothermal and solar energy, wood fuels) only accounted for 7% of

residential sector energy end use (EIA, 2021). Again, a clear disparity shows a dire need for

improvement, in this case being an increase in renewable energy usage and a heavy decrease in

nonrenewable energy usage.

Thin Films
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A thin film is a layer of material with a thickness of the nanometer (1×10-9m) unit,

meaning that the thickness is negligible. This distinct property gives the films a wide range of

applications, ranging from mere decoration to photovoltaic (solar) cell production, as well as a

very cheap manufacturing cost (with a negligible thickness, the material only needs to fill length

and width – meaning it is extremely more cost-efficient than manufacturing in volume). This

property comes through deposition, which is a general term for the technique of depositing a thin

film onto a substrate (base material). The material used as the substrate varies greatly, as does the

material used for the thin film, allowing the manufacturer to create films specific to each desired

task. The deposition techniques share similar versatility. A study done by Professor Emeritus

Yoshiki Oshida of Indiana University demonstrated pulsed laser deposition (PLD), which

focuses on ablation. Using pulses of a high-density laser to vaporize the material into a plasma

and then cool it back into a gaseous state before reaching the substrate, this technique results in a

hardened, "diamond-like" thin film (Oshida, 2013). Norm Hardy, a Process Engineer for

Semicore, a worldwide distributor of Physical Vapor Deposition equipment, published an

informational article about sputtering, which is a significantly more flexible technique than PLD.

Whereas PLD primarily creates hardened thin films, sputtering uses a combination of a noble gas

(typically argon) and an electrically energized cathode to create a self-sustaining plasma. After

being accelerated into the target material, the vapor stream produced sticks to the substrate,

creating a thin film (Hardy, 2013). Many other techniques exist, such as molecular beam epitaxy

(MBE), cathodic arc deposition, and electrohydrodynamic (electrospray) deposition, all with the

ability to produce an extensive number of results depending on the manufacturer's needs.

The Current Refrigeration Process

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Currently, the refrigeration process is quite low in efficiency, demonstrated by the earlier

disparity between HVAC energy consumption and AC/refrigeration energy consumption. The

widely accepted refrigeration system was studied by Process Solutions, a control system

manufacturer located in the Northwest U.S. They found that the normal refrigeration system uses

a vapor compression cycle that goes as follows: The refrigerant first enters the cycle as a low-

pressure vapor, where it is compressed into a superheated high-pressure vapor. The vaporized

refrigerant then is condensed into a high-pressure liquid, after which it expands into a cooled,

low-pressure liquid. Finally, the refrigerant evaporates, releasing heat that is transformed into the

energy used to reduce the temperature in the conditioned space (Process Solutions, 2020).

Given that this process is in dire need of an overhaul, Yurij Mozharivskyj of McMaster

University investigated the Magnetocaloric Effect (MCE), a process in which a magnetic

material is heated and cooled consistently in direct relation to the changing of an applied

magnetic field. During this investigation, Mozharivskyj notes that this process can be used for

cooling and, if using the right materials, can offer larger efficiencies than the conventional vapor

compression cycle for refrigeration (Mozharivskyj, 2016).

Thin Films and the Magnetocaloric Effect

Following Mozharivskyj's findings, a team composed of Professors in Materials Science

and various Engineering disciplines at the University of Lorraine and Mohammed V University

have begun studying the magnetocaloric effect as it relates to thin films. Given the low cost of

thin-film production and the wide variety of applications they possess, this team began to

investigate if the magnetocaloric effect would remain strong in thin films (it was unknown how

or if the deposition techniques used to create the films would change the magnetic properties of

the used materials). They not only found the MCE to be strong enough in the tested thin films,
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but they also found that the results of applying the MCE to thin films would be significantly

more efficient than the current vapor compression system.

The Effects of Sputtering on Magnetic Potential

Mohamed Tadout of Mohammed V. University led this team in their study of multiple

combinations of gadolinium and cobalt, in the common ratio Gd100-xCox, with the variable x

being constrained in the limit 40 ≤ x ≤ 56. All compounds were first tested to discover the

magnetic properties, then fabricated into thin films using the aforementioned sputtering

technique. Their investigations found that there is a presence of a long-range ferromagnetic order

(essentially, the films retained a level of long-range magnetism) in all tested compounds,

meaning that sputtering, though the compounds were subjected to immense temperature changes

and changed their state of matter multiple times, does not result in a significant enough change in

magnetic entropy to disqualify the MCE (Tadout et al., 2019). The team also went to significant

lengths to display that the relative cooling power (RCP) – a key parameter in magnetic

refrigeration application – changed almost entirely proportionate to the cobalt concentration in

the Gd100-xCox thin films, displaying progress in determining the ideal thin-film compound to

pose a replacement to the current conventional refrigeration system (Tadout et al., 2019).

Thin Film Solar Cells

A 2004 study conducted by K. L. Chopra and V. Dutta of the Indian Institute of

Technology in partnership with P. D. Paulson of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion

listed thin-film solar cells as a "promising approach for terrestrial and space photovoltaics" due

to the freedom of choice in the production of the device (Chopra et al., 2004). In relation to this
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freedom of choice and the positive effect it has on the capabilities of thin films, Chopra, Paulson,

and Dutta report the following:

"A variety of substrates (flexible or rigid, metal or insulator) can be used for deposition of

different layers (contact, buffer, absorber, reflector, etc.) using different techniques (PVD, CVD,

ECD, plasma-based, hybrid, etc.). Such versatility allows tailoring and engineering of the layers

to improve device performance. Which cell(s) and which technologies will ultimately succeed

commercially continue to be anybody's guess, but it would surely be determined by the

simplicity of manufacturability and the cost per reliable watt. Cheap and moderately efficient

TFSC are expected to receive a due commercial place under the sun."

Although the observation was made nearly 2 decades ago, the observation would fare quite well

against the test of time. A similar study completed in 2016 by Taesoo D. Lee of the North

Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in partnership with Abasifreke U. Ebong of the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department not

only confirmed Chopra, Paulson, and Dutta's findings, they also narrowed the best compounds

for thin-film solar cell production. They found that copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and

cadmium telluride (CdTe) compounds both rival the efficiency of crystalline solar cells, which

currently possess over 55% of the market share (Lee & Ebong, 2016). Not only do the thin-film

solar cells rival the technology that holds a majority of the market share, but they also do so

while costing significantly less.

Thin Film Lithium-Ion Batteries

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are relatively neutral for the environment, especially

when compared to their alternatives (lead-acid batteries, fossil fuels). However, as displayed by a
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report released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2019, they are

considered somewhat hazardous as they have strict temperature restrictions, can be subject to

detrimental overcharging errors, are at risk of chemical leakage, and, due to the use of organic

liquid electrolytes, are volatile and flammable when operating at high temperatures (OSHA,

2019). As such, though significantly better than the environmentally-jeopardizing alternatives,

they are far from perfect.

Jean-Louis Souquet and Michel Duclot of France's Laboratory of Electrochemistry and

Physiochemistry of Materials and Interfaces found in a 2002 study that solid-state thin-film

batteries manufactured using sputtering and vacuum evaporation techniques offer better

cyclability in comparison to the lithium-ion batteries, in addition to a guarantee of no liquid

leakage, making them remarkably safer than lithium-ion batteries, while not only maintaining the

efficiency, but offering the potential to increase it (Souquet & Duclot, 2002). Again, the addition

of thin films to a system proved to be multidimensionally better than the counterpart.

Conclusion

At the beginning of this paper, I created a criterion for a proper solution to the need for

cleaner energy alternatives, a criterion based on the reality of the U.S.'s "money-first" mindset.

This criterion included three conditions. Firstly, the solution must be significantly better for the

environment. The AIP's timeline of the effects of climate change revealed multiple instances of

the U.S. largely ignoring climate control efforts, leading to the highest average global

temperature in tens of thousands of years and the highest carbon dioxide level in millions (AIP,

2022). This led climate scientists in 2008 to conclude that even if all greenhouse gases were to be

halted immediately, the global temperature would remain elevated for millennia (AIP, 2022). As
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such, it is imperative for the solution to be significantly better for the environment than the

current standard – not just marginally.

The second and third criteria were created in regards to the mindset of the U.S. A primary

reason the U.S. continued to deny and ignore the existence of climate change was that doing so

would force a decrease in the usage of nonrenewable energy sources, such as oil. Oil lobbyists,

seeing only monetary gain rather than the consequences of their recklessness, took it upon

themselves to convince the U.S. to ignore the efforts of climate control groups such as the Global

Climate Coalition, leading to its eventual dissolution (AIP, 2022). Consequently, to adhere with

the U.S.'s monetary mindset, the solution would need to be both cost-effective and -efficient, as

well as being more technologically efficient than the current standard.

By using the observations of Yurki Mozharivskyj and Mohamed Tadout's team, I

proposed an alternative to the current inefficient system of refrigeration, one that revolved

around thin films and the magnetocaloric effect. I also used K.L Chopra, V. Dutta, and P. D.

Paulson's findings of the advantages of thin-film solar cells (confirmed by Taesoo Lee and

Abasifreke Ebong's conclusions made over a decade later) to show that using thin films in the

production of solar cells would decrease the cost of solar cell technology while rivaling the

efficiency of the current standard, crystalline solar cells. Lastly, I used the study conducted by

Jean-Louis Souquet and Michel Duclot to display that solid-state thin films eliminate a portion of

the hazards presented by the OSHA while offering a potential increase in overall efficiency. As

such, by proposing solutions to two of the biggest areas of potential improvement in addition to

displaying the versatility of thin films by proposing a solution to the issue of dangerous lithium-

ion batteries even before it became a serious problem, I have sufficiently displayed evidence that

thin films are a genuine solution to the necessity of cleaner energy alternatives.
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