High Efficiency Semiconductor‐Liquid Junction Solar Cells based on Cu/Cu₂O

Abstract

Cu/Cu2O photoelectrodes are synthesized by a simple electrodepositing process at low temperature. The values of the electrolyte pH have great influence on the morphology and the compositions of the obtained films, and thus affect the performance of the electrodes. The best device based on Cu/Cu2O and I−/I3− electrolyte gives a high conversion efficiency of 3.13% under simulated AM1.5G illumination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency reported for solar cells based on electrodeposited Cu2O. For comparison purposes, pure Cu2O films are also synthesized. The performance of the solar cells based on pure Cu2O is very poor, as low as 0.013%. In addition, the Cu/Cu2O films are perfectly compatible with the lightweight plastic substrates and yielded a power conversion efficiency of 1.44%.

Novel fabrication of copper nanowire/cuprous oxidebased semiconductor-liquid junction solar cells

“…The J SC and V OC were both very low: 0.12 mA/cm 2 and 0.36 V, respectively. The efficiency (η) was only 0.0115%, which is similar to the value of 0.013% reported by Shao et al [15]. The series resistance (R S ) was 22,137 Ω, and the shunt resistance (R SH ) was 13,481 Ω.…”

“…Figure 2 shows the XRD pattern of the as-deposited photoanode samples for different pH and temperature values. All the peaks can be ascribed to Cu and Cu 2 O [15,28,30], and no peak of CuO was observed. The sharp peaks indicate that the Cu 2 O was well crystalized in all the samples.…”

“…Kazuya et al [10] prepared Cu 2 O with highly oriented {111} crystallites and achieved an efficiency of 1.43% using Cu 2 O-ZnO. In recent years, semiconductor-liquid junction solar cells have attracted increasing attention [13][14][15]. They offer an opportunity to fabricate efficient solar cells based on Cu 2 O. Lewis et al [14] prepared liquid-junction solar cells with Cu 2 O photoelectrodes and reported an efficiency of 1.5%.…”

“…They offer an opportunity to fabricate efficient solar cells based on Cu 2 O. Lewis et al [14] prepared liquid-junction solar cells with Cu 2 O photoelectrodes and reported an efficiency of 1.5%. Shao et al [15] prepared non-aqueous liquidjunction solar cells with Cu/Cu 2 O photoelectrodes and achieved a remarkable efficiency of 3.13%. This large improvement in the efficiency was due to the Cu/Cu 2 O structures, which not only greatly decrease the resistance of Cu 2 O layer but also assist the charge separation.…”

Microstructures and Photovoltaic Properties of Zn(Al)O/Cu2O-Based Solar Cells Prepared by Spin-Coating and Electrodeposition

“…Copper oxides (Cu 2 O) are known to be p-type semiconductor oxides, and the crystal structure of Cu 2 O is cubic system with a space group of Pn3m [1], as shown in Figure 1a A maximum efficiency of 5.38% has been obtained for Cu 2 O solar cells fabricated by high-temperature annealing and pulsed laser deposition [2]. Cu 2 O-based solar cells fabricated by electrodeposition and photochemical deposition have been reported [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], and zinc oxide (ZnO)/Cu 2 O thin film solar cells prepared by electrodeposition have also been reported [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Electrodeposition is a low-temperature method for solar cell fabrication with a low process cost.…”