Effect of Nitridation of Si Nanoparticles on the Performance of Quantum-Dot Sensitized Solar Cells

Gas‐Phase Plasma Synthesis of Free‐Standing Silicon Nanoparticles for Future Energy Applications

“…Another example of surface functionalization of Si‐NPs is demonstrated using a double plasma, where Si‐NP synthesis and the plasma decomposition of functionalizing agents takes place simultaneously in different plasmas, and co‐mixed in the downstream. The group of Shiratani used double multi‐hollow capacitive high frequency discharge to synthesize surface nitridated Si‐NPs . In their particular setup Si‐NPs were synthesized in SiH 4 /H 2 gas mixture in one discharge, and a nitrogen plasma is generated in the other discharge (Figure ).…”

“…In their particular setup Si‐NPs were synthesized in SiH 4 /H 2 gas mixture in one discharge, and a nitrogen plasma is generated in the other discharge (Figure ). They demonstrated that this one‐step double plasma process improves the incident photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of Si‐NPs when embedded in solar cells from 20 to 40% –especially in the UV range from 350 to 400 nm –when compared to Si‐NPs without nitridation …”

“…Compared to the other Si‐NP synthesis methods, gas‐phase plasma‐chemical processing techniques have unique advantages like one‐step production of free‐standing Si‐NPs, the feasibility of promoting high throughput synthesis, the flexibility of using the precursor material in any desired form (i.e., solid, liquid, or gas form), and the freedom of modifying the material morphology and surface chemistry by taking advantage of tunable plasma parameters. As an example, non‐thermal plasmas, multi‐hollow discharges, and remote expanding thermal plasmas have been reported as suitable synthesis techniques of free‐standing Si‐NPs using various precursors, where in situ surface functionalization and morphological modification via in situ etching are also possible. Higher throughputs up to ∼100 mg min −1 are reported in lab‐scale gas‐phase plasma processing tools, which is already in the order of fab‐scale production expectations for technological applications.…”

Combinatorial Plasma CVD of Si Nanoparticle Composite Films for Band Gap Control

“…Si nanoparticles have the advantages of using abundant, nontoxic material, and offer a promising approach to band gap engineering for all-Si tandem cells. In this paper, we report a new approach to control optical band gap of Si-nanoparticle composite films deposited by multi-hollow plasma CVD [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Effects of H2 Gas Addition on Structure of Ge Nanoparticle Films Deposited by High-Pressure RF Magnetron Sputtering Method

“…The unique characteristics of QDs such as tunable band gap and multiple exciton generation are expected to enhance the energy conversion efficiency above the Shockley and Queisser limit of 33 % [4]. Our interest has been motivated by QD solar cells using Si and Ge nanoparticles [5,6], because Si and Ge are important materials of the current electronics and solar cell industries. Especially, Ge QDs have more outstanding quantum confinement effects than Si QDs due to the larger excitonic Bohr radius of 24.3 nm for Ge QDs than 4.9 nm for Si ones [7][8][9].…”