Enhancement of the open circuit voltage of Cu2O/Ga2O3 heterojunction solar cells through the mitigation of interfacial recombination

Chua, Danny; Kim, Sang Bok; Gordon, Roy

doi:10.1063/1.5096283

Enhancement of the open circuit voltage of Cu₂O/Ga₂O₃ heterojunction solar cells through the mitigation of interfacial recombination

Journal Article · Thu May 02 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · AIP Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5096283· OSTI ID:1613294

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Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); DOE/OSTI
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)

Thin film solar cells were fabricated using cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) absorber layers grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) buffer layers grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on the cuprous oxide CVD films. The in-situ formation of heterojunction in the same deposition system without exposure to oxygen-rich ambient was found to be effective in mitigating the creation of detrimental cupric oxide (CuO) at the interface, resulting in a pristine photovoltaic junction capable of delivering an enhanced open-circuit voltage of 1.78 V. Numerical device simulations of a novel two-layer absorber architecture (CVD-Cu₂O on ECD-Cu₂O) showed promising possibilities (theoretical 13.2 % efficiency) for a solar cell combining in-situ junction formation with electrochemical deposition of the absorber layer.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0005329

OSTI ID:: 1613294

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1510373

Journal Information:: AIP Advances, Journal Name: AIP Advances Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 9; ISSN 2158-3226

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (1)

Nano-structured phases of gallium oxide (GaOOH, α-Ga2O3, β-Ga2O3, γ-Ga2O3, δ-Ga2O3, and ε-Ga2O3): fabrication, structural, and electronic structure investigations Sharma, Aditya; Varshney, Mayora; Saraswat, Himani International Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40089-020-00295-w	journal	February 2020

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