Enhanced absorption and carrier collection in Si wire arrays for photovoltaic applications

Kelzenberg, Michael D.; Boettcher, Shannon W.; Petykiewicz, Jan; Turner-Evans, Daniel B.; Putnam, Morgan C.; Warren, Emily L.; Spurgeon, Joshua M.; Briggs, Ryan M.; Lewis, Nathan S.; Atwater, Harry A.

doi:10.1038/nmat2635

Cited by 1,103 publications

(1,030 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

1,013

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…thick at the wire base) using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, as described previously. 7 1-m planar-equivalent thickness of Ag was then deposited in successive 500-nm-thick thermal evaporations at two different shallow angles (± ~5°) while the sample was slowly rotated.…”

Section: S3mentioning

confidence: 99%

Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Using Si Microwire Arrays

et al. 2011

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Figure S1. Panel (a) shows the J-E data collected for the electrode fabricated with 'enhanced' absorption due to light-trapping elements, in 0.5 M aq. H 2 SO 4 under ELH-type W-halogen solar simulation. Panel (b) shows a cross-sectional SEM image of the same sample. Panel (c) compares the spectral response collected for the sample with light-trapping elements ('enhanced') versus the spectral response for the normal sample. The red response in the 'enhanced' cell is significantly improved. Panel (d) shows the increased J sc with reduced angle dependence, for the enhanced sample compared to the normal sample. Panel (e) shows a digital photograph of a normal Pt/n + p-Si wire-array electrode evolving hydrogen under ~ 1 sun illumination. Small bubbles can be seen nucleating on the wire-array surface. The larger bubbles are stuck on the epoxy, and are the result of the coalescence of many small bubbles. S1

show abstract

Section: S3mentioning

confidence: 99%

Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Using Si Microwire Arrays

et al. 2011

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The potential benefits of microstructured designs compared to planar ones include lower material usage, [53] lower requirements for material purity, [47c] minimized ionic-transport distance, [13,54] robustness against catastrophic device failure, and fundamentally different module designs that affect the balance-of-systems requirements. [55] However, challenges include the increased complexity of epitaxial growth on the nontraditional crystallographic surface terminations present, as has been used for state-of-the-art planar designs, and the increased fabrication complexity, in general.…”

Section: Microwire and Microstructured Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[56] Nearcomplete light absorption above the band gap has been achieved in Si microwire arrays by introducing scattering elements into the unoccupied space within the microwire array. [53] Many, if not all, of these photovoltaic demonstrations are directly applicable to solar-driven water-splitting devices, as they could constitute one of the two or three junctions required for efficient operation, although a protective coating is necessary in most cases because of the instability of the semiconductors under PEC operating conditions, as noted above. Single-junction PEC applications using microstructured arrays have focused primarily on the HER.…”

Section: Microwire and Microstructured Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling, Simulation, and Implementation of Solar‐Driven Water‐Splitting Devices

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An integrated cell for the solar‐driven splitting of water consists of multiple functional components and couples various photoelectrochemical (PEC) processes at different length and time scales. The overall solar‐to‐hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of such a system depends on the performance and materials properties of the individual components as well as on the component integration, overall device architecture, and system operating conditions. This Review focuses on the modeling‐ and simulation‐guided development and implementation of solar‐driven water‐splitting prototypes from a holistic viewpoint that explores the various interplays between the components. The underlying physics and interactions at the cell level is are reviewed and discussed, followed by an overview of the use of the cell model to provide target properties of materials and guide the design of a range of traditional and unique device architectures.

show abstract

“…However, such a technique is technologically demanding and presents several open challenges [15][16][17]. Furthermore, a regular array would not work on all incident angles due to diffraction effects [18]. We propose here a more cost-effective alternative: the self-assembly of nanowires.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tailoring the diameter and density of self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires on silicon

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nanowire diameter has a dramatic effect on the absorption cross-section in the optical domain. The maximum absorption is reached for ideal nanowire morphology within a solar cell device. As a consequence, understanding how to tailor the nanowire diameter and density is extremely important for high-efficient nanowire-based solar cells. In this work, we investigate mastering the diameter and density of self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires on Si(111) substrates by growth conditions using the self-assembly of Ga droplets. We introduce a new paradigm of the characteristic nucleation time controlled by group III flux and temperature that determine diameter and length distributions of GaAs nanowires. This insight into the growth mechanism is then used to grow nanowire forests with a completely tailored diameter-density distribution. We also show how the reflectivity of nanowire arrays can be minimized in this way. In general, this work opens new possibilities for the cost-effective and controlled fabrication of the ensembles of self-catalyzed III-V nanowires for different applications, in particular in next-generation photovoltaic devices.S Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/NANO/26/105603/mmedia

show abstract

Enhanced absorption and carrier collection in Si wire arrays for photovoltaic applications

Cited by 1,103 publications

References 39 publications

Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Using Si Microwire Arrays

Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Evolution Using Si Microwire Arrays

Modeling, Simulation, and Implementation of Solar‐Driven Water‐Splitting Devices

Tailoring the diameter and density of self-catalyzed GaAs nanowires on silicon

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About