Effect of perforated transparent electrodes on light transmittance and light scattering in substrates used for microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells

Nasuno, Y.; Kohama, Noriyoshi; Nishimura, Kazuhito; Hayakawa, T.; Taniguchi, Hiroshi; Shimizu, Mitsuaki

doi:10.1063/1.2176857

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, the large texture size can also decrease the electrical cell properties, because crystal growth on the steep texture gives rise to defective regions, like grain boundaries or voids, due to the collision of growth directions. [104][105][106][107] M. Python et al [107] analyzed a series of cells deposited on the LPCVD ZnO substrates treated with various plasma-treatment times, transforming the surface morphology from V shape (initial) to U shape (long treatment time). TEM observations indicated that the cells deposited on the U-shape substrate had less cracks than on the V-shape substrate, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Relation Between Textured Zno and Solar Cell Performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in the transparent conducting ZnO for thin-film Si solar cells

Moon

Shin

Park

2015

Electron. Mater. Lett.

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The key challenge for solar-cell development lies in the improvement of power-conversion efficiency and the reduction of fabrication cost. For thin-film Si solar cells, researches have been especially focused on the light trapping for the breakthrough in the saturated efficiencies. The ZnObased transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have therefore received strong attention because of their excellent light-scattering capability by the texture-etched surface and cost effectiveness through in-house fabrication. Here, we have highlighted our recent studies on the transparent conducting ZnO for thin-film Si solar cells. From the electrical properties and their degradation mechanisms, bilayer deposition and organic-acid texturing approaches for enhancing the light trapping, and finally the relation between textured ZnO and electrical cell performances are sequentially introduced in this review article.

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Section: Relation Between Textured Zno and Solar Cell Performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in the transparent conducting ZnO for thin-film Si solar cells

Moon

Shin

Park

2015

Electron. Mater. Lett.

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“…Over the past few years, tremendous efforts have been made to boost the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) due to its technical feasibility and costeffectiveness alternative to silicon or III-V material-based solar cells. [15][16][17][18][19] Recently, for this, biomimetic architectures consisting of nano, micro, or compound (e.g., hierarchical nano/micro configuration) structures have been widely studied in several solar cells. 12 Additionally, an undyed layer placed on the top of the active layer 13 or a mirrorlike Pt counter electrode 14 was also studied as an internal rear reflector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multifunctional polymers with biomimetic compound architectures via nanoporous AAO films for efficient solar energy harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

et al. 2015

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†Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) available: SEM image of the Mc-PSS, wetting behavior of the bare glass and the F-PDMS, dynamic wetting behavior of the CA-PDMS at an inclination angle of 40°. SeeWe report the considerable enhancement of the solar power conversion efficiency (PCE) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using a novel biomimetic compound architecture (CA) (i.e., hierarchical nanobumps/microcones arrays)-patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with light-harvesting and self-cleaning functions as a protective cover-layer. The CApatterned PDMS (CA-PDMS) is transferred from a nanoporous anodic alumina oxide mold by facile and cost-effective soft imprint lithography via a microcone-patterned sapphire substrate. A lamination of the CA-PDMS on the glass leads to the increased total and diffuse transmittance properties (i.e., antireflection and light scattering effects), simultaneously, compared to the bare glass over a wide wavelength range of 350-800 nm, exhibiting the much larger solar weighted total transmittance (TSW) value of ~ 94% and average haze ratio (HA) value of ~ 49.7%, respectively, (i.e., TSW ≈ 90.4% and HA ≈ 1.4% for the bare glass). In addition, sand dusts on its hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle of ~ 134° are clearly washed by rolling down water droplets (i.e., self-cleaning effect). To simply demonstrate the device applicability, the CA-PDMS is introduced on an outer surface of the front glass substrate in DSSCs. The resulting DSSC with the CA-PDMS exhibits a boosted PCE value of ~ 8.24% due to a mainly strong increased short-circuit current density (JSC) value of ~ 18.11 mA cm −2 compared to the reference DSSC with the bare glass (i.e., PCE ≈ 7.45% and JSC ≈ 16.37 mA cm −2 ) under AM1.5G illumination, indicating the large PCE enhancement percentage value of ~ 10.7%. Abstract Polydimethylsiloxane with a biomimetic compound architecture (i.e., CA-PDMS) consisting of hierarchical nanobumps/microcone arrays with light-harvesting (i.e., antireflection and light scattering) and self-cleaning functions as a protective cover-layer of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) generates the improved solar power conversion efficiency.

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“…[20][21][22][23][24] For conformable and elastomeric stamps, in most of reports on the so lithography, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with low free surface energy, exibility, transparency, and hardness has been oen used to transfer micro/nano patterns precisely on secondary substrates. [33][34][35] Meanwhile, the superhydrophilicity makes water droplets to spread out evenly like a thin lm on the surface. [25][26][27][28] These polymers are suitable for ARCs on the surface of the Si due to relatively low refractive indices of $1.4-1.7.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antireflective gradient-refractive-index material-distributed microstructures with high haze and superhydrophilicity for silicon-based optoelectronic applications

Choi

Leem

2015

RSC Adv.

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We fabricate gradient-index (n) material-based microstructures, i.e., magnesium fluoride (MgF 2 , n $ 1.37) film-coated SU8 ultraviolet curable polymer (n $ 1.59) microcones (MCs) with tapered architectures, on silicon (Si, n $ 3.9) substrates using a soft imprint lithography method for high-performance Si-based optoelectronic applications. The effects of various geometry parameters (i.e., height, filling ratio, and period) of conical MCs on the SU8 film/Si structure including different thicknesses of MgF 2 films on the reflectance properties are investigated by a theoretical analysis using a rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulation. For the fabricated samples, their optical characteristics and surface wetting behaviors are also explored. The MgF 2 film-coated SU8 MCs on Si substrates (i.e., MgF 2 /SU8 MCs/Si) exhibit a superhydrophilic surface with very low water contact angles of <10 and reduce the surface reflection of the bare Si over a wide wavelength of 350-1100 nm, showing the lower average reflectance (R avg ) and solar weighted reflectance (R sw ) values of $14% and $12.1%, respectively, (i.e., R avg $ 15.1% and R sw $ 13% for the SU8 MCs/Si and R avg $ 38.5% and R sw $ 38% for the bare Si). Furthermore, the MgF 2 /SU8 MCs on glasses also show strong light scattering in transmissions at wavelengths of 350-1100 nm, which indicates an average haze ratio of $89.8%, while maintaining high total transmissions. Both the measured and calculated reflectance spectra showed similar results.

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Effect of perforated transparent electrodes on light transmittance and light scattering in substrates used for microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells

Cited by 34 publications

References 7 publications

Recent advances in the transparent conducting ZnO for thin-film Si solar cells

Recent advances in the transparent conducting ZnO for thin-film Si solar cells

Multifunctional polymers with biomimetic compound architectures via nanoporous AAO films for efficient solar energy harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

Antireflective gradient-refractive-index material-distributed microstructures with high haze and superhydrophilicity for silicon-based optoelectronic applications

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