Recently,
metal oxide semiconductors, especially copper oxides,
have engrossed researchers in the domain of solar cells due to their
good optoelectronic properties. The present study reports the development
of a heterojunction of CuO and Ta2O5 on pyramidal
Si decorated with a thin MXene coating as a transparent conductive
electrode. Further, the impact of annealing ambient on the crystalline
quality and phase selectivity of the as-deposited Cu
x
O
y
film has also been investigated.
The as-designed Si/Ta2O5/CuO/MXene heterostructure
shows improved efficiency as compared to the counter device without
a Ta2O5 passivation layer by 109 factors.
The superiority of the as-designed heterojunction has been examined
in terms of short-circuit current density of −10.5 mA/cm2 and photoconversion efficiency of ∼1.47%, respectively.
Therefore, the work emphasizes the importance of the combination of
n-Ta2O5 and p-CuO film as the wide- and low-band-gap
materials for the future low-cost solar cell compatible with the Si
process line technology.