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Heteroepitaxial Cu2O thin film solar cell on metallic substrates

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16272· OSTI ID:1352751
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
  2. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division; State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States). Research and Education in Energy, Environment & Water (RENEW), Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Department of Materials Design & Innovation, and Department of Electrical Engineering and Physics
Heteroepitaxial, single-crystal-like Cu2O films on inexpensive, flexible, metallic substrates can potentially be used as absorber layers for fabrication of low-cost, high-performance, non-toxic, earth-abundant solar cells. Here, we report epitaxial growth of Cu2O films on low cost, flexible, textured metallic substrates. Cu2O films were deposited on the metallic templates via pulsed laser deposition under various processing conditions to study the influence of processing parameters on the structural and electronic properties of the films. It is found that pure, epitaxial Cu2O phase without any trace of CuO phase is only formed in a limited deposition window of P(O2) - temperature. The (00l) single-oriented, highly textured, Cu2O films deposited under optimum P(O2) - temperature conditions exhibit excellent electronic properties with carrier mobility in the range of 40-60 cm2 V-1 s-1 and carrier concentration over 1016 cm-3. The power conversion efficiency of 1.65% is demonstrated from a proof-of-concept Cu2O solar cell based on epitaxial Cu2O film prepared on the textured metal substrate.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1352751
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 5; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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