title: High efficiency hybrid silicon nanopillar-polymer solar cells.
abstract: Recently, inorganic/organic hybrid solar cells have been considered as a viable alternative for low-cost photovoltaic devices because the Schottky junction between inorganic and organic materials can be formed employing low temperature processing methods. We present an efficient hybrid solar cell based on highly ordered silicon nanopillars (SiNPs) and poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). The proposed device is formed by spin coating the organic polymer PEDOT:PSS on a SiNP array fabricated using metal assisted electroless chemical etching process. The characteristics of the hybrid solar cells are investigated as a function of SiNP height. A maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.65% has been achieved for an optimized SiNP array hybrid solar cell with nanopillar height of 400 nm, despite the absence of a back surface field enhancement. The effect of an ultrathin atomic layer deposition (ALD), grown aluminum oxide (Al2O3), as a passivation layer (recombination barrier) has also been studied for the enhanced electrical performance of the device. With the inclusion of the ultrathin ALD deposited Al2O3 between the SiNP array textured surface and the PEDOT:PSS layer, the PCE of the fabricated device was observed to increase to 10.56%, which is ∼10% greater than the corresponding device without the Al2O3 layer. The device described herein is considered to be promising toward the realization of a low-cost, high-efficiency inorganic/organic hybrid solar cell.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy and ‡Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at San Antonio , One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas 78249, United States.
authors.forename: Pushpa Raj
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Pudasaini
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Zepeda
authors.forename: Manisha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elam
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponce
authors.forename: Arturo A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Ayon
mesh_terms: D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry; D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic / Q000737:chemistry*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy
chemical_list: D019086:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic; D011108:Polymers; D011137:Polystyrenes; C121383:poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene); C003321:polystyrene sulfonic acid; D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D012825:Silicon
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2009 Jan;9(1):449-52
references.pmid: 19113966
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2010 Mar 10;10(3):1012-5
references.pmid: 20141156
references.citation: ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013 Apr 24;5(8):3246-54
references.pmid: 23570319
references.citation: J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Jun 8;133(22):8416-9
references.pmid: 21557557
references.citation: ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2009 Jan;1(1):150-61
references.pmid: 20355767
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2008 Sep;8(9):2806-13
references.pmid: 18683989
references.citation: Nanotechnology. 2012 Apr 13;23(14):145401
references.pmid: 22433819
references.citation: Nanoscale. 2011 Sep 1;3(9):3631-4
references.pmid: 21845258
references.citation: Science. 2007 Jul 13;317(5835):222-5
references.pmid: 17626879
references.citation: Adv Mater. 2011 Dec 22;23(48):5762-6
references.pmid: 22109841
references.citation: ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2011 Oct;3(10):3866-73
references.pmid: 21882843
references.citation: ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2012 Mar;4(3):1704-8
references.pmid: 22391479
references.citation: Nat Nanotechnol. 2012 Nov;7(11):743-8
references.pmid: 23023643
references.citation: Adv Mater. 2010 Oct 15;22(39):4355-8
references.pmid: 20589774
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2012 Nov 14;12(11):6024-9
references.pmid: 23066872
references.citation: Science. 2002 Mar 29;295(5564):2425-7
references.pmid: 11923531
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2010 Mar 10;10(3):1082-7
references.pmid: 20108969
references.citation: Nano Lett. 2012 Jun 13;12(6):2971-6
references.pmid: 22545674