Hole-Selective Electron-Blocking Copper Oxide Contact for Silicon Solar Cells

Ravindra, Pramod; Mukherjee, Rudra; Avasthi, Sushobhan

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2017.2720619

Cited by 51 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[30] To corroborate this phenomenon, the ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy spectrum also depicts that the work function of (111) plane is slightly smaller than the (100) plane of Cu 2 O ( Figure S5, Supporting Information). [38] The surface potential gap between (100) and (111) planes is found to be about 23 mV (interpreted by two arrows in Figure 2c, corresponding to the two chosen spots in Figure 2b). Generally, the increased surface potential in (111) plane certifies that this crystal plane is accumulated by positive charges, suggesting an upward band bending in space charge region.…”

Section: Doi: 101002/adma201902963supporting

(Expert classified)

“…Thus, there exists a surface potential gap between crystal planes, demonstrating that the work function of (111) plane is lower than (100) plane because of the different space charge regions beneath the diverse planes, although they share the same bulk work function . To corroborate this phenomenon, the ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy spectrum also depicts that the work function of (111) plane is slightly smaller than the (100) plane of Cu 2 O (Figure S5, Supporting Information) . The surface potential gap between (100) and (111) planes is found to be about 23 mV (interpreted by two arrows in Figure c, corresponding to the two chosen spots in Figure b).…”

supporting

(Expert classified)

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Hybrid Artificial Photocatalysis System Splits Atmospheric Water for Simultaneous Dehumidification and Power Generation

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A new approach for artificial photocatalysis of electrical generation directly from atmospheric water is reported. A hybrid system comprising a hydrogel incorporated with Cu2O and BaTiO3 nanoparticles is developed, wherein the Cu2O is designed to expose two different crystal planes, namely (100) and (111). These planes exhibit different surface potentials and form a polarization electric field of 2.3 kV cm−1 that acts on a ferroelectric dipole. With the help of this electric field, the dipole is redirected for aiding in positive and negative polarizations with (100) and (111) planes, then boosting water reduction and oxidation kinetics separately at (100) and (111) planes. Additonally, zinc‐/cobalt‐based superhygroscopic hydrogels serve as a water‐capturing “hand” to harness humidity from the ambient environment. The integrated hydrogel–Cu2O@BaTiO3 hybrid is used to dehumidify air, which can split 36.5 mg of water by employing only 150 mg hydrogel and simultaneously generate a photocurrent of 224.3 µA cm−2 under 10 mW cm−2 illumination.

show abstract

Section: Doi: 101002/adma201902963supporting

(Expert classified)

supporting

(Expert classified)

A Hybrid Artificial Photocatalysis System Splits Atmospheric Water for Simultaneous Dehumidification and Power Generation

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These findings were consistent with literature for much thicker AlO x layers [35][36][37][38][39]. For hole-extracting capping layer materials, various candidates had been suggested, which includes highly p-doped polysilicon, transition metal oxide films with high work function such as molybdenum oxide (MoO x ) [40][41][42][43][44][45], tungsten oxide (WO x ), vanadium oxide (V 2 O 5 ), cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) [46], or alternatively organic polymers, such as poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) [47][48][49], among others. It is worthy to highlight that the transition metal oxide films exhibit a tunable work function between 4.7 and 7 eV [50,51] by an appropriate combination of materials, while organic polymers can also exhibit a tunable work function from 3.0 to 5.8 eV by chemical modification [8].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Double-Sided Passivated Contacts for Solar Cell Applications: An Industrially Viable Approach Toward 24% Efficient Large Area Silicon Solar Cells

Ling¹,

Zhang²,

Wang³

et al. 2019

Silicon Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tunnel layer passivated contacts have been successfully demonstrated for next-generation silicon solar cell concepts, achieving improved device performance stemming from the significantly reduced contact recombination of the solar cell contacts. However, these carrier-selective passivated contacts are currently deployed only at the rear side of the silicon solar cell, while the front side adopts a conventional diffused junction and contacting scheme. In this work, we report on the novelty and feasibility of deploying tunnel layer passivated contacts on both sides of a silicon wafer-based solar cell, featuring a textured front surface and a planar rear surface. In particular, we demonstrate that silicon solar cells incorporating our in-house developed electron-selective thermal-SiO x /poly-Si(n +) and hole-selective thermal-SiO x /poly-Si(p +) passivated contacts have a solar cell efficiency potential approaching 24%. Deploying contact passivation only at the rear side of the solar cell, we have reached a solar cell efficiency of 21.7%, using conventional screen printing for metallization. We present a systematic approach of evaluating our in-house developed electron-selective and hole-selective passivated contacts on both textured and planar lifetime test structures, as well as dark I-V test structures, to extract the recombination current density j 0 and the contact resistance R c of the passivated contact, which is used for process optimization as well as for subsequent efficiency potential prediction. The two key challenges aiming at a double-sided integration of passivated contacts are (1) parasitic absorption within the front-side highly doped poly-Si capping layer, requiring the processing of ultrathin (≤10-nm) contact passivation layers. This has been quantified by numerical simulation (using SunSolve™) and also solved experimentally, i.e., processing ultrathin 3-/10-nm hole/electron extracting SiO x /poly-Si(p + /n +) passivated contact layers, reaching an implied open-circuit voltage of 690/703 mV on a planar/textured silicon surface, which will even further enhance after SiN x capping. (2) Ensuring process compatibility with conventional screen printing: Screen printing on electron extracting poly-Si(n +) seems feasible; however, screen printing on holeextracting poly-Si(p +) is still a challenge. Solar cell precursors have been processed, showing excellent pre-metallization results (implied-V OC $ 713 mV). According to 1 our efficiency potential prediction (using the measured j 0 and R c values of our developed contact passivation layers), bifacial double-sided passivated contact solar cells (efficiency potential of $23.2%, using our layers) can clearly outperform rearside-only passivated contact solar cells (efficiency potential of $22.5%).

show abstract

“…A series of thin films with extremely low or high work function and/or suitable band offsets with silicon (Figure 1) were recently investigated as potential DF-CSCs for c-Si solar cells. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] For example, thin films with either a high work function (e.g., MoO x ) or a small valence band offset with silicon (e.g., CuO) (see Figure 1, left side) were developed as holeselective contacts. Thin films with a low work function (e.g., LiF, Mg) or a small conduction band offset with silicon (e.g., TiO 2 ) were also developed as electron-selective contacts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tantalum Nitride Electron‐Selective Contact for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Yang

Aydın

et al. 2018

Advanced Energy Materials

134

142

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Minimizing carrier recombination at contact regions by using carrier‐selective contact materials, instead of heavily doping the silicon, has attracted considerable attention for high‐efficiency, low‐cost crystalline silicon (c‐Si) solar cells. A novel electron‐selective, passivating contact for c‐Si solar cells is presented. Tantalum nitride (TaN x ) thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition are demonstrated to provide excellent electron‐transporting and hole‐blocking properties to the silicon surface, due to their small conduction band offset and large valence band offset. Thin TaNx interlayers provide moderate passivation of the silicon surfaces while simultaneously allowing a low contact resistivity to n‐type silicon. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 20% is demonstrated with c‐Si solar cells featuring a simple full‐area electron‐selective TaNx contact, which significantly improves the fill factor and the open circuit voltage (Voc) and hence provides the higher PCE. The work opens up the possibility of using metal nitrides, instead of metal oxides, as carrier‐selective contacts or electron transport layers for photovoltaic devices.

show abstract

Hole-Selective Electron-Blocking Copper Oxide Contact for Silicon Solar Cells

Cited by 51 publications

References 42 publications

A Hybrid Artificial Photocatalysis System Splits Atmospheric Water for Simultaneous Dehumidification and Power Generation

A Hybrid Artificial Photocatalysis System Splits Atmospheric Water for Simultaneous Dehumidification and Power Generation

Double-Sided Passivated Contacts for Solar Cell Applications: An Industrially Viable Approach Toward 24% Efficient Large Area Silicon Solar Cells

Tantalum Nitride Electron‐Selective Contact for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About