Room-temperature processed, air-stable and highly efficient graphene/silicon solar cells with an organic interlayer

Abstract

High-performance graphene/silicon (Gr/Si) solar cells are reported with four-month-stable efficiency over 11%.

Direct Growth of Graphene Nanowalls on Inverted Pyramid Silicon for Schottky Junction Solar Cells

“…Graphene is a promising material in optoelectronic applications due to its high electrical conductivity, high carrier mobility, high optical transmittance, low sheet resistance, as well as tunable work function. − Graphene produced by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method has been transferred onto silicon to form Schottky junction solar cells. − In such devices, graphene not only serves as a transparent electrode but also contributes to forming a built-in electrical field with silicon for the separation of photogenerated carriers. , …”

“…Since a photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.6% was obtained for the first pristine graphene/silicon solar cell produced by the CVD technique, many effective approaches, including chemical doping, , silicon surface with antireflective (AR) nanostructures, , coating of an AR layer, − as well as interface engineering, − have been employed to improve the photovoltaic performance of the solar cell device. Feng et al fabricated graphene/silicon-pillar-array solar cells, which exhibited the PCE of 4.35% using HNO 3 doping.…”

“…Kim et al developed graphene–silicon solar cells with a PCE of 16.2% by introducing p-doping silicon quantum dots as an interface layer, as well as both AuCl 3 and Ag nanowires as codoping agents. In these existing reports, researchers employed CVD-grown graphene to fabricate solar cells via a wet-transfer technique. − However, the process of preparing graphene using the traditional CVD method requires catalysts such as Cu or Ni, , and the removal of the catalyst requires extra processes . These complicated processes limit the further application and development of graphene-based solar cells.…”

Application of a hole transporting organic interlayer in graphene oxide/single walled carbon nanotube–silicon heterojunction solar cells

“…The major improvement observed aer adding the interlayer is due to the conductive polymer acting as a hole transporting layer (HTL). 23 In addition to these conductive polymers, 2,2 0 ,7,7 0 -tetrakis(N,N 0 -di-pmethoxyphenylamine)-9,9 0 -spirobiuorene (spiro-OMeTAD) is the most commonly used HTL material in solid state dye sensitized and perovskite solar cells. [24][25][26] Recently, Xu et al reported that spiro-OMeTAD can also be applied as an interlayer in graphene/ silicon solar cells to improve the hole transport as well to improve the diode properties of the heterojunction.…”

“…[24][25][26] Recently, Xu et al reported that spiro-OMeTAD can also be applied as an interlayer in graphene/ silicon solar cells to improve the hole transport as well to improve the diode properties of the heterojunction. 16,23 On the basis of these excellent reports, spiro-OMeTAD may have the potential to be applied as efficient organic interlayers in GOCNT/Si devices to act as both a HTL [27][28][29] and to improve the diode formed at the interface without absorbing a signicant amount of solar irradiation ( Fig. 1(b)).…”