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Title: Suppress carrier recombination by introducing defects. The case of Si solar cell

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939628· OSTI ID:1233605
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing (China)

Deep level defects are usually harmful to solar cells. Here we show that incorporation of selected deep level defects in the carrier-collecting region, however, can be utilized to improve the efficiency of optoelectronic devices. The designed defects can help the transport of the majority carriers by creating defect levels that is resonant with the band edge state, and/or reduce the concentration of minority carriers through Coulomb repulsion, thus suppressing the recombination at the carrier-collecting region. The selection process is demonstrated by using Si solar cell as an example. In conclusion, our work enriches the understanding and utilization of the semiconductor defects.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0006336
OSTI ID:
1233605
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 2; ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Passivating contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells journal September 2019
Chemical, structural and photovoltaic properties of graded CdS x Se 1−x thin films grown by chemical bath deposition on GaAs(100) journal January 2018

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