This paper reports an organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell with a hierarchical surface composed of high density silicon nanoholes and micro-desert textures. High-efficiency organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell Si/PEDOT-PSS with a hierarchical surface, showing a power conversion efficiency of 12%. The structure provides excellent light absorption over 97% for the spectral range of 300 to 1100 nm with a thickness of 60 μm due to internal multiple reflections caused by subwavelength features of high density silicon nanoholes and micro-desert textures. In addition, from the angle of incidence (AOI) observed, even at the large angle of 75°, the reflectance value still exhibits less than 1%. With the advantage of very thin silicon material and inexpensive processing, hybrid silicon/polymer solar cells are promising for various applications and thus could be an economically feasible alternative energy solution in the future.
Electrochemical supercapacitance performance of a ternary nanocomposite composed of mesoporous indium oxide (In2O3) nanocube crystals (size ∼50 nm) embedded in carbon nanotubes (CNT) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) prepared by hydrothermal method is reported. A glassy carbon electrode modified with the In2O3/CNT/RGO nanocomposite material exhibited excellent electrochemical performance with a large specific capacitance of 1273 F g−1 at 5 mV s−1 and 948 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. The composite electrode showed excellent cyclic stability without any capacity loss after 5000 charge/discharge cycles. Furthermore, ∼75% capacitance retention was observed at high scan rate of 200 mV s−1. These results indicate that the novel mesoporous In2O3 cubes composited with π-electron rich conductive nanocarbons CNT and RGO would be useful as electrode material for advanced supercapacitors.
High density vertically aligned and high aspect ratio silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays have been fabricated on a Si substrate using a template and a catalytic etching process. The template was formed from polystyrene (PS) nanospheres with diameter 30-50 nm and density 10 10 /cm 2 , produced by nanophase separation of PS-containing block-copolymers. The length of the SiNWs was controlled by varying the etching time with an etching rate of 12.5 nm/s. The SiNWs have a biomimetic structure with a high aspect ratio (~100), high density, and exhibit ultra-low reflectance. An ultra-low reflectance of approximately 0.1% was achieved for SiNWs longer than 750 nm. Well-aligned SiNW/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) heterojunction solar cells were fabricated. The n-type silicon nanowire surfaces adhered to PEDOT:PSS to form a core-sheath heterojunction structure through a simple and efficient solution process. The large surface area of the SiNWs ensured efficient collection of photogenerated carriers. Compared to planar cells without the nanowire structure, the SiNW/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction solar cell exhibited an increase in short-circuit current density from 2.35 mA/cm 2 to 21.1 mA/cm 2 and improvement in power conversion efficiency from 0.4% to 5.7%.
PSS via a low-pressure-assisted coating process, excellent light harvesting without sacrificing the minority-carrier lifetime, and efficient charge separation/collection of photogenerated carriers.
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