All-back-contact ultra-thin silicon nanocone solar cells with 13.7% power conversion efficiency

Jeong, Sangmoo; McGehee, Michael D.; Cui, Yi

doi:10.1038/ncomms3950

Cited by 305 publications

(273 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Savin et al6 even demonstrated that Si nanopillars textured solar cell brings 3% higher in daily energy production as compared to the conventional Si micropyramids (SiMPs)‐textured solar cell, which benefits from its better angular acceptance. Hence, considerable efforts have been focused on integrating Si nanostructures into various solar cells, such as diffused homojunction cells,10, 11, 12 heterojunction cells,13, 14 photo‐electrochemical cells,15 hybrid cells,16, 17, 18 carrier‐selective contact cells,19 and ultrathin crystalline Si (c‐Si) cells 20…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realization of Quasi‐Omnidirectional Solar Cells with Superior Electrical Performance by All‐Solution‐Processed Si Nanopyramids

et al. 2017

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Large‐scale (156 mm × 156 mm) quasi‐omnidirectional solar cells are successfully realized and featured by keeping high cell performance over broad incident angles (θ), via employing Si nanopyramids (SiNPs) as surface texture. SiNPs are produced by the proposed metal‐assisted alkaline etching method, which is an all‐solution‐processed method and highly simple together with cost‐effective. Interestingly, compared to the conventional Si micropyramids (SiMPs)‐textured solar cells, the SiNPs‐textured solar cells possess lower carrier recombination and thus superior electrical performances, showing notable distinctions from other Si nanostructures‐textured solar cells. Furthermore, SiNPs‐textured solar cells have very little drop of quantum efficiency with increasing θ, demonstrating the quasi‐omnidirectional characteristic. As an overall result, both the SiNPs‐textured homojunction and heterojunction solar cells possess higher daily electric energy production with a maximum relative enhancement approaching 2.5%, when compared to their SiMPs‐textured counterparts. The quasi‐omnidirectional solar cell opens a new opportunity for photovoltaics to produce more electric energy with a low cost.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realization of Quasi‐Omnidirectional Solar Cells with Superior Electrical Performance by All‐Solution‐Processed Si Nanopyramids

et al. 2017

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“…Minority carrier lifetimes in the millisecond range indicate excellent surface passivation of b-Si and are in the range needed for high-efficiency solar cells (>20%) 17,18 . Previous b-Si solar cell results have been limited to those from conventional front-side aluminium back surface field (Al-BSF) structures or ultrathin back-contacted cells 13 , probably because these structures are less sensitive to front surface recombination. Here, we study the potential of ALD Al 2 O 3 passivated b-Si to address the above-mentioned surface recombination problem present in nanostructured surfaces.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means that a high number of light-generated electron-hole pairs are lost in the nanostructures instead of being collected at the contacts, reducing the efficiency. Auger recombination can be avoided by using an interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell design where the junction and the contacts are placed at the back of the cell 13 , but the recombination problem due to the larger surface area remains unsolved. To date, the surface passivation issue has generally been addressed by rather conventional methods, such as depositing silicon nitride by means of plasmaenhanced chemical vapour deposition 14 or with thermally grown silicon dioxide 15 , resulting in tradeoffs between reflectance and recombination.…”

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confidence: 99%

Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency

et al. 2015

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The nanostructuring of silicon surfaces—known as black silicon—is a promising approach to eliminate front-surface reflection in photovoltaic devices without the need for a conventional antireflection coating. This might lead to both an increase in efficiency and a reduction in the manufacturing costs of solar cells. However, all previous attempts to integrate black silicon into solar cells have resulted in cell efficiencies well below 20% due to the increased charge carrier recombination at the nanostructured surface. Here, we show that a conformal alumina film can solve the issue of surface recombination in black silicon solar cells by providing excellent chemical and electrical passivation. We demonstrate that efficiencies above 22% can be reached, even in thick interdigitated back-contacted cells, where carrier transport is very\ud sensitive to front surface passivation. This means that the surface recombination issue has truly been solved and black silicon solar cells have real potential for industrial production. Furthermore, we show that the use of black silicon can result in a 3% increase in daily energy production when compared with a reference cell with the same efficiency, due to its better angular acceptance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

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“…However, the negative charge within the Al 2 O 3 layer accumulates or inverts the silicon surface on p-type and n-type material, respectively; thus, it remains unclear if the overall surface passivation of b-Si on n-type will reach the same excellent values as on p-type b-Si surface in finished IBC's solar cells. In fact, no efficiencies over 20% have been yet reported for n-type b-Si IBC's [15][16][17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High‐efficiency black silicon interdigitated back contacted solar cells on p‐type and n‐type c‐Si substrates

Ortega

Calle

Gastrow

et al. 2015

Progress in Photovoltaics

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This work demonstrates the high potential of Al 2 O 3 passivated black silicon in high-efficiency interdigitated back contacted (IBC) solar cells by reducing surface reflectance without jeopardizing surface passivation. Very low reflectance values, below 0.7% in the 300-1000 nm wavelength range, together with striking surface recombination velocities values of 17 and 5 cm/s on p-type and n-type crystalline silicon substrates, respectively, are reached. The simultaneous fulfillment of requirements, low reflectance and low surface recombination, paves the way for the fabrication of high-efficiency IBC Si solar cells using black silicon at their front surface. Outstanding photovoltaic efficiencies over 22% have been achieved both in p-type and n-type 9-cm 2 cells. 3D simulations suggest that efficiencies of up to 24% can be obtained in the future with minor modifications in the baseline fabrication process.

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All-back-contact ultra-thin silicon nanocone solar cells with 13.7% power conversion efficiency

Cited by 305 publications

References 43 publications

Realization of Quasi‐Omnidirectional Solar Cells with Superior Electrical Performance by All‐Solution‐Processed Si Nanopyramids

Realization of Quasi‐Omnidirectional Solar Cells with Superior Electrical Performance by All‐Solution‐Processed Si Nanopyramids

Black silicon solar cells with interdigitated back-contacts achieve 22.1% efficiency

High‐efficiency black silicon interdigitated back contacted solar cells on p‐type and n‐type c‐Si substrates

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