a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem junction based photocathodes with high open-circuit voltage for efficient hydrogen production

Urbain, Félix; Smirnov, Vladimir; Becker, Jan‐Philipp; Rau, Uwe; Finger, F.; Ziegler, Jürgen; Kaiser, Bernhard; Jaegermann, Wolfram

doi:10.1557/jmr.2014.308

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…Additional details on the preparation conditions of mc-Si:H absorber layers can be found in Ref. [16]. The intrinsic a-Si:H top and middle cell absorber layers were deposited at 130°C with a SC of 4% and at 180°C with a SC of 10%, respectively.…”

Section: Preparation Of Thin Film Silicon Layers and Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, we apply intrinsic a-Si:H and mc-Si:H absorber layers. For a-Si:H a variation in the bandgap is achieved by changes in the deposition temperature and/or gas flow ratios as previously presented for the case of tandem devices [15,16]. Additionally, we utilize doped mc-SiO x :H layers [17] to improve the current transfer between sub cells and the current matching in the quadruple junction device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Light-induced degradation of adapted quadruple junction thin film silicon solar cells for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Urbain

Smirnov

Becker

et al. 2016

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Section: Preparation Of Thin Film Silicon Layers and Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-induced degradation of adapted quadruple junction thin film silicon solar cells for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Urbain

Smirnov

Becker

et al. 2016

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…The development of the tandem , triple , and quadruple junction solar cells used in this is study is described elsewhere. The solar cells were particularly developed according to the requirements for the application as photocathodes in a solar water splitting device.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling and practical realization of thin film silicon‐based integrated solar water splitting devices

Becker

Urbain

Smirnov

et al. 2016

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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An integrated solar water splitting device based on thin film silicon multijunction photocathodes is presented. A graphical representation of the photovoltaic current–voltage data is introduced which allows for an estimation of the maximum achievable solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency of the integrated device. Furthermore, a simple yet very useful series circuit model is used to predict the photoelectrochemical performance of the integrated device in a more elaborate way when the j–V characteristics of the individual components are known. Within the model, the j–V characteristics of each component can be either modeled with parameters from the literature or measured. The photocathode, the electrolyte concentration, and the hydrogen and oxygen evolving catalysts were varied exemplarily and the impact of each component on the integrated device performance was evaluated. A maximum solar‐to‐hydrogen efficiency of 9.5% was found using a triple junction solar cell functionalized with a Pt catalyst for the hydrogen evolution and a RuO2 catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction in a 1 M KOH electrolyte. This result was confirmed experimentally and is compared to efficiencies reported in the literature.

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“…Nevertheless, this effect was validated by the deposition of thick layers with d > 2 lm and additionally by KOH crater etching experiments. 40 To explain the similar starting crystallinity of the Raman profiles close to that of the p-layer (I RS C % 58%) two possible reasons have to be considered: One is the seeding effect of the p-layer which leads to a continuation of the crystalline growth, if deposition conditions are favorable. Additionally, the Raman scattered light partly originates from the p-layer during the initial growth phase due to the information depth of the 532 nm excitation laser.…”

Section: First Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Interplay between crystallinity profiles and the performance of microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells studied by in-situ Raman spectroscopy

Fink

Muthmann

Mück

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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The intrinsic microcrystalline absorber layer growth in thin-film silicon solar-cells is investigated by in-situ Raman spectroscopy during plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. In-situ Raman spectroscopy enables a detailed study of the correlation between the process settings, the evolution of the Raman crystallinity in growth direction, and the photovoltaic parameters η (solar cell conversion efficiency), JSC (short circuit current density), FF (fill factor), and VOC (open circuit voltage). Raman spectra were taken every 7 nm of the absorber layer growth depending on the process settings. The Raman crystallinity of growing microcrystalline silicon was determined with an absolute error of approximately ±5% for total absorber layer thicknesses >50 nm. Due to this high accuracy, inherent drifts of the Raman crystallinity profiles are resolvable for almost the entire absorber layer deposition. For constant process settings and optimized solar cell device efficiency Raman crystallinity increases during the absorber layer growth. To compensate the inhomogeneous absorber layer growth process settings were adjusted. As a result, absorber layers with a constant Raman crystallinity profile — as observed in-situ — were deposited. Solar cells with those absorber layers show a strongly enhanced conversion efficiency by ∼0.5% absolute. However, the highest FF, VOC, and JSC were detected for solar cells with different Raman crystallinity profiles. In particular, fill factors of 74.5% were observed for solar cells with decreasing Raman crystallinity during the later absorber layer growth. In contrast, intrinsic layers with favorable JSC are obtained for constant and increasing Raman crystallinity profiles. Therefore, monitoring the evolution of the Raman crystallinity in-situ provides sufficient information for an optimization of the photovoltaic parameters with surpassing depth resolution.

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a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem junction based photocathodes with high open-circuit voltage for efficient hydrogen production

Cited by 33 publications

References 38 publications

Light-induced degradation of adapted quadruple junction thin film silicon solar cells for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Light-induced degradation of adapted quadruple junction thin film silicon solar cells for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Modeling and practical realization of thin film silicon‐based integrated solar water splitting devices

Interplay between crystallinity profiles and the performance of microcrystalline thin-film silicon solar cells studied by in-situ Raman spectroscopy

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