Cost-Effective Thin n-type Silicon Solar Cells with Rear Emitter

Moehlecke, Adriano; Marcondes, Tatiana Lisboa; Aquino, Jéssica de; Zanesco, Izete; Ly, Moussa

doi:10.1590/1980-5373-mr-2019-0536

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Doping of bulk silicon is the most popular method to fabricate a p–n junction and is achieved by high‐temperature diffusion or ion implant technology to form p + (boron) or n + (phosphorous) regions near surface of the wafer. [ 116 ] Thin amorphous silicon films are doped by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition combined with toxic boron/phosphorous gas precursors. [ 117 ] Together these steps have a negative impact on the final performance/cost ratio of the cells.…”

Section: Carbon Nanotubes In Silicon Photovoltaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Nanotubes for Photovoltaics: From Lab to Industry

Wieland

Han

Rust

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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All other nanotube conformations (0° < θ < 30°) are referred to as being chiral. In this 1D system, circumferential electron confinement results in SWCNTs that are either metallic (m) or semiconducting (s) and the innate ability of small changes in diameter to impart large changes in the spectral position (size) of absorption maxima (bandgap) of the SWCNTs. [1a,2] For each chiral species these maxima appear as sets of discrete excitonic transitions (S 11 , S 22 , S 33 …etc.) in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet and the ability to tune them with structure has made SWCNTs one of the most intensively studied nanomaterials of the past two decades. [3] SWCNTs meet all of the requirements for next generation technology to become flexible and potentially made entirely from carbon to aid disposal at the end of the product life-cycle. Applications for SWCNTs can be found across all fields of science including photonics, [4] telecommunications, [5] batteries, [6] fuel cells, [7] high frequency transistors, [8] biosensors, [9] novel memory devices, [10] molecular contacts, [11] and cancer research. [12] In particular, their chirality dependent bandgap, chemical stability, conductivity, and hole selectivity have made them attractive for new generation solar cells and light sensitive elements. [13] For example, there are 200 species in the dia meter range of 0.6-2 nm, which have first (S 11) and second (S 22) optical transitions ranging from 2.57 eV (visible) to 0.5 eV (near-infrared) and these already cover a majority of the solar spectrum (400-2000 nm), Figure 1d. [14] Being solutionprocessable and fiber-shaped, CNTs can easily be integrated into different types of solar cells with distinct functions. For example, as a photoactive layer in organic solar cell, a transparent electrode in silicon and perovskite solar cells or as counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. [15] However, despite their promise, the number of real-world applications for SWCNTs in the photovoltaics (PV) industry continue to remain limited. The reasons for this are manifold and include the comparatively lower power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device area of SWCNT-based technologies, which drive simple cost-benefit arguments to retool existing production lines, ongoing challenges to orientate and control the structure of CNT films in a scalable manner, spurious health concerns associated with the use of CNTs [16] and importantly, the fact that it is still not possible to selectively synthesize SWCNTs of arbitrarily defined chirality. Most synthesis methods produce a 2:1 mixture of many semiconducting and metallic chiral types and even the CoMoCAT synthesis process, [17] which is well known to be highly enriched in small diameter (6,5), still contains at least 15 other chiral species in low concentration. Research efforts to achieve chiral specific growth are ongoing The use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in photovoltaics could have significant ramifications on the commercial solar cell market. Three interrelated research directions within t...

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Section: Carbon Nanotubes In Silicon Photovoltaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Nanotubes for Photovoltaics: From Lab to Industry

Wieland

Han

Rust

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…the axial junction). It can be observed that the value of PCE has dropped (solid red line) compared to the core–shell junction and has its maximum value of 16.5% at = 250 nm, to the standard thickness of the axial shell 65 . When is larger than 1000 nm, the n-doped layer becomes more effective and hence the lifetime was significantly reduced.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical performance of efficient quad-crescent-shaped Si nanowire solar cell

El-Bashar

Hussein

Hegazy

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The electrical characteristics of quad-crescent-shaped silicon nanowire (NW) solar cells (SCs) are numerically analyzed and as a result their performance optimized. The structure discussed consists of four crescents, forming a cavity that permits multiple light scattering with high trapping between the NWs. Additionally, new modes strongly coupled to the incident light are generated along the NWs. As a result, the optical absorption has been increased over a large portion of light wavelengths and hence the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has been improved. The electron–hole (e–h) generation rate in the design reported has been calculated using the 3D finite difference time domain method. Further, the electrical performance of the SC reported has been investigated through the finite element method, using the Lumerical charge software package. In this investigation, the axial and core–shell junctions were analyzed looking at the reported crescent and, as well, conventional NW designs. Additionally, the doping concentration and NW-junction position were studied in this design proposed, as well as the carrier-recombination-and-lifetime effects. This study has revealed that the high back surface field layer used improves the conversion efficiency by $$\sim$$ ∼ 80%. Moreover, conserving the NW radial shell as a low thickness layer can efficiently reduce the NW sidewall recombination effect. The PCE and short circuit current were determined to be equal to 18.5% and 33.8 mA$$/\hbox {cm}^2$$ / cm 2 for the axial junction proposed. However, the core–shell junction shows figures of 19% and 34.9 mA$$/\hbox {cm}^2$$ / cm 2 . The suggested crescent design offers an enhancement of 23% compared to the conventional NW, for both junctions. For a practical surface recombination velocity of $$10^{2}$$ 10 2 cm/s, the PCE of the proposed design, in the axial junction, has been reduced to 16.6%, with a reduction of 11%. However, the core–shell junction achieves PCE of 18.7%, with a slight reduction of 1.6%. Therefore, the optoelectronic performance of the core–shell junction was marginally affected by the NW surface recombination, compared to the axial junction.

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“…Therefore, the thick TiO 2 films provided better surface passivation. To compare the surface passivation, similar solar cells with a thermally grown SiO 2 and TiO 2 ARC achieved an IQE of around 80% at 400 nm, with one extra thermal step to obtain the SiO 2 layer 29 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

TiO2 Antireflection Coating Deposited by Electro-Beam Evaporation: Thin Film Thickness Effect on Weighted Reflectance and Surface Passivation of Silicon Solar Cells

et al. 2022

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Titanium dioxide was extensively used in solar cell industry and currently has been studied to produce passivated contacts in PERC/PERT and TOPCon solar cells. The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of the thickness of TiO 2 thin films deposited by electro-beam evaporation on the weighted reflectance and the surface passivation on silicon solar cells. Thin films with different thicknesses were deposited to produce PERT solar cells, varying from 50 to 90 nm. The surface passivation was enhanced as the thickness was increased. For instance, at 400 nm, the internal quantum efficiency increased from 71% to 76% when the thickness of the TiO 2 was augmented from 50 nm to 90 nm. The lowest weighted reflectance was obtained in samples with 80 nm thick TiO 2 films. Considering the compromise between antireflection properties and surface passivation, the highest efficiency solar cells were produced with 80 nm thick TiO 2 .

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Cost-Effective Thin n-type Silicon Solar Cells with Rear Emitter

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Carbon Nanotubes for Photovoltaics: From Lab to Industry

Carbon Nanotubes for Photovoltaics: From Lab to Industry

Electrical performance of efficient quad-crescent-shaped Si nanowire solar cell

TiO2 Antireflection Coating Deposited by Electro-Beam Evaporation: Thin Film Thickness Effect on Weighted Reflectance and Surface Passivation of Silicon Solar Cells

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