Defect state passivation and conductivity of materials are always in opposition; thus, it is unlikely for one material to possess both excellent carrier transport and defect state passivation simultaneously. As a result, the use of partial passivation and local contact strategies are required for silicon solar cells, which leads to fabrication processes with technical complexities. Thus, one material that possesses both a good passivation and conductivity is highly desirable in silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work, a passivation‐conductivity phase‐like diagram is presented and a conductive‐passivating‐carrier‐selective contact is achieved using PEDOT:Nafion composite thin films. A power conversion efficiency of 18.8% is reported for an industrial multicrystalline silicon solar cell with a back PEDOT:Nafion contact, demonstrating a solution‐processed organic passivating contact concept. This concept has the potential advantages of omitting the use of conventional dielectric passivation materials deposited by costly high‐vacuum equipment, energy‐intensive high‐temperature processes, and complex laser opening steps. This work also contributes an effective back‐surface field scheme and a new hole‐selective contact for p‐type and n‐type silicon solar cells, respectively, both for research purposes and as a low‐cost surface engineering strategy for future Si‐based PV technologies.

Traditional silicon solar cells extract holes and achieve interface passivation with the use of a boron dopant and dielectric thin films such as silicon oxide or hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Without these two key components, few technologies have realized power conversion efficiencies above 20%. Here, a carbon nanotube ink is spin coated directly onto a silicon wafer to serve simultaneously as a hole extraction layer, but also to passivate interfacial defects. This enables a low‐cost fabrication process that is absent of vacuum equipment and high‐temperatures. Power conversion efficiencies of 21.4% on an device area of 4.8 cm2 and 20% on an industrial size (245.71 cm2) wafer are obtained. Additionally, the high quality of this passivated carrier selective contact affords a fill factor of 82%, which is a record for silicon solar cells with dopant‐free contacts. The combination of low‐dimensional materials with an organic passivation is a new strategy to high performance photovoltaics.

The organic passivated carbon nanotube (CNT)/silicon (Si) solar cell is a new type of low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell, with challenges concerning the stability of the organic layer used for passivation. In this work, the stability of the organic layer is studied with respect to the internal and external (humidity) water content and additionally long-term stability for low moisture environments. It is found that the organic passivated CNT/Si complex interface is not stable, despite both the organic passivation layer and CNTs being stable on their own and is due to the CNTs providing an additional path for water molecules to the interface. With the use of a simple encapsulation, a record power conversion efficiency of 22% is achieved and a stable photovoltaic performance is demonstrated. This work provides a new direction for the development of high-performance/low-cost photovoltaics in the future and will stimulate the use of nanotubes materials for solar cells applications.

In article number 1903851, Jianhui Chen and co‐workers discern a region of good conductivity and passivation in a passivation‐conductivity phase‐like diagram, which enables conductive passivating contacts for silicon solar cells. This work suggests a low‐cost surface engineering strategy for future photovoltaic technologies, with the advantage of omitting the use of conventional dielectric passivation materials and simplifying the fabrication process.

A breakthrough in graphene‐oxide/silicon heterojunction solar cells is presented in which edge‐oxidized graphene and an in‐plane charge transfer dopant (Nafion) are combined to form a high‐quality passivating contact scheme. A graphene oxide (GO):Nafion ink is developed and an advanced back‐junction GO:Nafion/n‐Si solar cell with a high‐power conversion efficiency (18.8%) and large area (5.5 cm2) is reported. This scalable solution‐based processing technique has the potential to enable low‐cost carbon/silicon heterojunction photovoltaic devices.