Solution-based fabrication of photovoltaic cell

A method for fabricating a liquid containing elements of groups IB and IIIA and optionally VIA, comprising:

• forming elemental non-oxide metal nanoparticles containing elements from group IB;
• providing a suspension comprised of one or more liquid metals, wherein the one or more liquid metals comprises at least one group IIIA based material;
• optionally forming elemental non-oxide nanoparticles from group VIA;
• intermixing the elemental non-oxide nanoparticles from groups IB and optionally VIA, with the suspension to form an ink;
• wherein the nanoparticles are in a desired particle size range of between about 0.1 nm and about 500 nm in diameter, wherein a majority of the mass of the nanoparticles range in size from no more than about 40% above or below an average particle size, or, if the average particle size is less than about 5 nanometers, from no more than about 2 nanometers above or below the average particle size.

A method for fabricating a liquid containing intermixed elements of groups IB and IIIA, and optionally VIA, comprising:

• forming non-oxide quantum nanoparticles containing elements from group IB;
• optionally
• forming non-oxide quantum nanoparticles containing elements from group VIA;
• providing a suspension comprised of one or more liquid metals, wherein the one or more liquid metals comprises at least one group IIIA based material;
• intermixing the non-oxide quantum nanoparticles from groups IB and optionally VIA, with the suspension to form an ink;
• wherein the non-oxide quantum nanoparticles are in a desired particle size range of between about 0.1 nm and about 10 nm in diameter, wherein, for each element, a majority of the mass of the non-oxide quantum nanoparticles range in size from no more than about 40% above or below an average particle size, or, if the average particle size is less than about 5 nanometers, from no more than about 2 nanometers above or below the average particle size.

A method for fabricating a liquid containing intermixed elements of groups IB and IIIA and optionally VIA, comprising:

• forming nanoparticles from group IB;
• and
• intermixing the nanoparticles from group IB with a suspension comprising one or more elements from group IIIA to form an ink, wherein the one or more elements from group IIIA are in liquid form;
• wherein the nanoparticles from group IB comprise particles in a desired particle size range of between about 0.1 nm and about 500 nm in diameter, wherein a majority of the mass of the nanoparticles range in size from no more than about 40% above or below an average particle size, or, if the average particle size is less than about 5 nanometers, from no more than about 2 nanometers above or below the average particle size.