Titanium dioxide/silicon hole-blocking selective contact to enable double-heterojunction crystalline silicon-based solar cell

Journal Article · Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916540· OSTI ID:22398795

Man, Gabriel; Jhaveri, Janam; Berg, Alexander H.; Kahn, Antoine; Wagner, Sigurd; Sturm, James C. ^[1]; Avasthi, Sushobhan ^[1]; Sahasrabudhe, Girija; Schwartz, Jeffrey ^[1]

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1. Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)

In this work, we use an electron-selective titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}) heterojunction contact to silicon to block minority carrier holes in the silicon from recombining at the cathode contact of a silicon-based photovoltaic device. We present four pieces of evidence demonstrating the beneficial effect of adding the TiO{sub 2} hole-blocking layer: reduced dark current, increased open circuit voltage (V{sub OC}), increased quantum efficiency at longer wavelengths, and increased stored minority carrier charge under forward bias. The importance of a low rate of recombination of minority carriers at the Si/TiO{sub 2} interface for effective blocking of minority carriers is quantitatively described. The anode is made of a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) heterojunction to silicon which forms a hole selective contact, so that the entire device is made at a maximum temperature of 100 °C, with no doping gradients or junctions in the silicon. A low rate of recombination of minority carriers at the Si/TiO{sub 2} interface is crucial for effective blocking of minority carriers. Such a pair of complementary carrier-selective heterojunctions offers a path towards high-efficiency silicon solar cells using relatively simple and near-room temperature fabrication techniques.

• OSTI ID: 22398795
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANODES
CATHODES
CHANNELING
CHARGE CARRIERS
DEPLETION LAYER
ELECTRIC CONTACTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
HETEROJUNCTIONS
HOLES
INTERFACES
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
RECOMBINATION
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TITANIUM OXIDES