Tantalum Oxide Electron-Selective Heterocontacts for Silicon Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction

Wan, Yimao; Karuturi, Siva Krishna; Samundsett, Christian; Bullock, James; Hettick, Mark; Yan, Di; Peng, Jun; Narangari, Parvathala Reddy; Mokkapati, Sudha; Tan, Hark Hoe; Jagadish, Chennupati; Javey, Ali; Cuevas, Andres

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01153

Title: Tantalum Oxide Electron-Selective Heterocontacts for Silicon Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction

Journal Article · Fri Dec 08 00:00:00 EST 2017 · ACS Energy Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01153· OSTI ID:1642670

^[1]; Karuturi, Siva Krishna ^[2]; Samundsett, Christian ^[2]; Bullock, James ^[3]; Hettick, Mark ^[3]; Yan, Di ^[2]; Peng, Jun ^[2]; Narangari, Parvathala Reddy ^[2]; Mokkapati, Sudha ^[4]; Tan, Hark Hoe ^[2]; Jagadish, Chennupati ^[2]; Javey, Ali ^[3]; Cuevas, Andres ^[2]

Australian National Univ. (ANU), Canberra, ACT (Australia); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Australian National Univ. (ANU), Canberra, ACT (Australia)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Cardiff Univ., Wales (United Kingdom)

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells have been dominating the photovoltaic (PV) market for decades, and c-Si based photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are regarded as one of the most promising routes for water splitting and renewable production of hydrogen. Here, we demonstrate a nanoscale tantalum oxide (TaO_x, ~6 nm) as an electron-selective heterocontact, simultaneously providing high-quality passivation to the silicon surface and effective transport of electrons to either an external circuit or a water-splitting catalyst. The PV application of TaO_x is demonstrated by a proof-of-concept device having a conversion efficiency of 19.1%. In addition, the PEC application is demonstrated by a photon-to-current efficiency (with additional applied bias) of 7.7%. These results represent a 2% and 3.8% absolute enhancement over control devices without a TaO_x interlayer, respectively. The methods presented in this Letter are not limited to c-Si based devices and can be viewed as a more general approach to the interface engineering of optoelectronic and photoelectrochemical applications.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0004993

OSTI ID:: 1642670

Journal Information:: ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 1; ISSN 2380-8195

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 105 works

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