Low-Temperature Growth of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide Solar Cell by Inductively Coupled Plasma Deposition Toward High Conversion Efficiency in Indoor Lighting

Abstract

A p-a-SiC:H window layer was used in amorphous Si thin film solar cells to boost the conversion efficiency in an indoor lighting of 500 lx. The p-a-SiC:H window layer/p-a-Si:H buffer layer scheme moderates the abrupt band bending across the p/i interface for the enhancement of VOC, JSC and FF in the solar spectra of short wavelengths. The optimized thickness of i-a-Si:H absorber layer is 400 nm to achieve the conversion efficiency of ~9.58% in an AM1.5 G solar spectrum. However, the optimized thickness of the absorber layer can be changed from 400 to 600 nm in the indoor lighting of 500 lx, exhibiting the maximum output power of 25.56 μW/cm2. Furthermore, various durability tests with excellent performance were investigated, which are significantly beneficial to harvest the indoor lights for applications in the self-powered internet of thing (IoT).

Transparent Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells for Indoor Light Harvesting with Conversion Efficiencies of 36% without Photodegradation

“…32 Among the various candidate materials available, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells have high durability and band gaps of approximately 1.7 eV, which are ideal for matching the spectra of white LEDs. 30 In addition, Si is a nontoxic material that can easily be mass produced, a parameter that is of the utmost importance for sustainable and large-scale applications. When thin absorbing layers are employed to fabricate a-Si:H solar cells, separate patterns of metal gridswhich can degrade visibilityare not required.…”

“…36−40 However, the PCEs of these cells under indoor light must also be improved to ensure tolerable transmittance because no such PV cells have yet shown a PCE higher than 20% under indoor lighting conditions. 30,32 Therefore, in this study, we report transparent a-Si:H solar cells with high-gap triple layers (HTMs) that showed a greatly increased shunt resistance, which is essential to achieving high PV performance under indoor illumination. The proposed transparent cell achieved a maximum PCE of 36.0% under indoor lighting conditions.…”

“…To date, organic solar cells, − dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), − perovskite solar cells, ,− and silicon-based solar cells − have been explored with the aim of achieving a high PCE for energy harvesting from indoor lighting. Among these, a DSSC has exhibited a high PCE of 28.9%, and a perovskite solar cell has shown the highest PCE of 36.2% under fluorescent lamps with illuminations of 1000 lx.…”

“…In addition, Si is a nontoxic material that can easily be mass produced, a parameter that is of the utmost importance for sustainable and large-scale applications. When thin absorbing layers are employed to fabricate a-Si:H solar cells, separate patterns of metal gridswhich can degrade visibilityare not required. − However, the PCEs of these cells under indoor light must also be improved to ensure tolerable transmittance because no such PV cells have yet shown a PCE higher than 20% under indoor lighting conditions. , …”

Solar Cells for Indoor Applications: Progress and Development

“…Águas et al also developed a thin-film Si-based solar cell on a paper substrate for indoor applications [54]. Furthermore, Kao and co-workers reported that the introduction of hydrogenated a-Si carbide in an a-Si thin-film solar cell could enhance the PCE of the device by up to 9.6% under the illumination of a 500 lx LED lamp [55]. From an extensive review, it has been observed that the Si-based solar cell can operate with high efficiency (PCE = 26%) under the 1-sun condition because of its broad absorption spectrum (Figure 4).…”