We have reported an effective method to enhance the efficiency of graphene-on-Si (Gr/Si) Schottky junction solar cells by co-doping of graphene with Au nanoparticles (NPs) and HNO3. Both Au NPs decoration and HNO3 treatment lead to p-type doping of graphene, and their combination is confirmed to be a more effective approach for achieving the higher work function and enhanced electrical conductivity of graphene. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency of Gr/Si solar cells is increased by 2.6 times, with a maximum value of 10.20%. This work suggests that the co-doping might be a promising way to realize high performance Gr/Si solar cells.

Articles you may be interested inNovel attributes in modeling and optimizing of the new graphene based InxGa1−xN Schottky barrier solar cells

Two-dimensionally arranged gold rings were prepared by depositing a polymeric membrane bearing a dense array of uniform pores onto a mica substrate, filling the pores with a solution of a gold precursor, evaporation of the solvent and calcinations. The epitaxy of gold rings is confirmed by x-ray diffraction measurements, and the epitaxial relationship between gold rings and the mica was found to be Au(111)[1-10]∥mica(001)[010]. The polar and azimuthal angular spreads are 0.3° and 1°, respectively, which is at least equal to or better than the quality of the corresponding epitaxial gold-film on mica.