Exciton Splitting and Carrier Transport Across the Amorphous-Silicon/Polymer Solar Cell Interface

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2006 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2408641· OSTI ID:944473

Gowrishankar, V; Scully, S R; McGehee, M D; Wang, Q; Branz, H M

The authors study exciton splitting at the interface of bilayer hybrid solar cells to better understand the physics controlling organic-inorganic device performance. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and a-Si:H/poly(2-methoxy-5-(2{prime}-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) solar cells show photoresponse dominated by exciton production in the polymer. The a-Si:H/P3HT devices are nearly as efficient as titania/P3HT cells. However, the a-Si:H/MEH-PPV system has much lower photocurrent than a-Si:H/P3HT, likely due to inefficient hole transfer back to the MEH-PPV after energy transfer from MEH-PPV to a-Si:H.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 944473
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 25, 2006 Vol. 89; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EXCITONS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOCURRENTS
PHYSICS
PRODUCTION
SILICON
SOLAR CELLS
Silicon Materials and Devices
Solar Energy - Photovoltaics
TRANSPORT