Insights into chemical doping to engineer the carbon nanotube/silicon photovoltaic heterojunction interface

Yu, LePing; Grace, Tom; Batmunkh, Munkhbayar; Dadkhah, Mahnaz; Shearer, Cameron J.; Shapter, Joseph G.

doi:10.1039/c7ta08445e

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 71 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…Chemical treatments have been widely used to enhance the optoelectronic properties of carbon nanotube or graphene based transparent conducting films, and therefore improve the performance of solar cells with those films . However, limited efforts have been devoted to improve the optoelectronic properties of Ti 3 C 2 T x films via chemical treatments.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concentration of Ti 3 C 2 T x aqueous dispersion is about 0.15 mg mL −1 . Ti 3 C 2 T x electrodes were prepared by a vacuum filtration method (shown in the Supporting Information) …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ti 3 C 2 T x electrodes were prepared by a vacuum filtration method (shown in the Supporting Information). [51] Specifically, the individual Ti 3 C 2 T x films were cut using a pair of scissors from MCE filter and placed in an acetone bath for 3 × 30 min to dissolve the MCE. [64] Two different routes were used to transfer the Ti 3 C 2 T x electrodes from the MCE filter membrane onto the Si substrates after the removal of thermal oxide layer, namely, floating transfer and vacuum oven transfer.…”

Section: Synthesis Of Mxene and Fabrication Of Ti 3 C 2 T X Transparementioning

confidence: 99%

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Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Bati

Grace

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

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For example, Ti 3 C 2 T x with sizes ranging from quantum dots level (below 10 nm) [12] to microscale (lateral dimensions of a few micrometers) [13] based on low-temperature liquid processing have been fabricated and they have been used for different applications, such as biological imaging, [12] supercapacitors, [14,15] and batteries. [16,17] In addition to these applications, transparent conducting films/electrodes with thicknesses ranging from 5 to 70 nm [18] and figure of merit as high as 15 [19] have also been prepared based on Ti 3 C 2 T x flakes using different fabrication processes, including drop casting, [20] spin coating [21] and spray coating. [18] Given their high electrical conductivities, such films have substantial potential to replace the traditional expensive transparent conducting electrodes in a wide range of electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as transistors, [22] supercapacitors, [19] photodetectors, [20] and solar cells. [23,24] From the point view of energy conversion, the photovoltaic (PV) response observed in the case of a photodetector created by MXene/Si heterojunction shows the realistic potential of Ti 3 C 2 T x as an electrode in solar cells. Furthermore, it has been theoretically shown that the work function of Ti 3 C 2 T x can potentially be tuned from less than 2 eV to above 6 eV by precise control over the termination groups. [25] This shows great promise to use the Ti 3 C 2 T x electrode to tune the barrier height. Therefore, the efficiency of charge separation at a solar cell junction formed between the MXene and a semiconductor of a proper bandgap such as silicon (Si) can be improved, in addition to fulfilling the requirements as a transparent conducting electrode. [26] Although the use of MXene in a wide range of applications is well documented, studies on the exploration of MXene in photovoltaics have been very sparse to date. Very recently, Yang et al. [27] have demonstrated low-temperature perovskite solar cells with high efficiency and small cell-to-cell variations using solution-processed Ti 3 C 2 /SnO 2 nanocomposites as the electron transporting layers. The high conductivity of MXene has been found to effectively improve the charge extraction and transfer, and thus resulted in higher photocurrents. These findings clearly indicate the great potential of MXenes in solar cells. However, to the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to employ MXenes as an active component in a photovoltaic device. Inspired by the previous success in carbon nanotube/Si [28] and graphene/Si [29] heterojunction PV cells with high power A novel type of solar cell has been developed based on charge separation at the heterojunction formed by a transparent conducting MXene electrode and an n-type silicon (n-Si) wafer. A thin layer of the native silicon dioxide plays an important role in suppressing the recombination of charge carriers. A two-step chemical treatment can increase the device efficiency by about 40%. Promisingly, an average power conversion efficiency of over 10% un...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concentration of Ti 3 C 2 T x aqueous dispersion is about 0.15 mg mL −1 . Ti 3 C 2 T x electrodes were prepared by a vacuum filtration method (shown in the Supporting Information) …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Synthesis Of Mxene and Fabrication Of Ti 3 C 2 T X Transparementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Bati

Grace

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…In this report, a solution of NaOH and IPA is used to anisotropically etch the Si surface leading to the formation of randomly distributed pyramids. GOCNT/Si devices are fabricated by applying GOCNT transparent conducting films on the pyramid‐textured Si surface, as shown in Figure b, by a previously developed floating transfer process . The influence of the etching duration on both the reflection and pyramid coverage of the Si surface as well as on the performance of solar cells has been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pyramid‐Textured Antireflective Silicon Surface In Graphene Oxide/Single‐Wall Carbon Nanotube–Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Batmunkh

Dadkhah

et al. 2018

Energy & Environ Materials

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Antireflection layers are commonly used in photovoltaics to increase light absorption and therefore increase maximum photocurrent. Here, pyramid structures are created on Si surfaces with alkaline solution etching. The extent of pyramid coverage depends directly on the reaction time and as a result, the surface reflectance decreases with reaction time. A floating transfer method is used to fabricate heterojunction solar cells based on graphene oxide‐carbon nanotube and Si heterojunctions. The best device performance (photo current conversion efficiency of 13.01 ± 0.32%, which is much higher than the efficiency of the control devices (10.18 ± 0.33%)) was observed using with cells fabricated with the highest coverage (99.9%) of pyramids on the Si surfaces, which is determined to be a combined effect of reduced surface reflectance and increased effective heterojunction area per unit active area.

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“…Preparation of Solar Cells : The method of fabricating the SWCNT/Si solar cells is based on previous work by Yu et al (see Figure a) . The n‐type phosphorous‐doped silicon substrate with 100 nm oxide layer was spin coated (30 s, 3000 rpm) with positive photoresist (methoxypropyl acetate) and then soft baked (1 min, 100 °C).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct‐Patterning SWCNTs Using Dip Pen Nanolithography for SWCNT/Silicon Solar Cells

Corletto

Shearer

et al. 2018

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Dip pen nanolithography (DPN) is used to pattern single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) lines between the n-type Si and SWCNT film in SWCNT/Si solar cells. The SWCNT ink composition, loading, and DPN pretreatment are optimized to improve patterning. This improved DPN technique is then used to successfully pattern >1 mm long SWCNT lines consistently. This is a 20-fold increase in the previously reported direct-patterning of SWCNT lines using the DPN technique, and demonstrates the scalability of the technique to pattern larger areas. The degree of the uniformity of SWCNTs in these lines is further characterized by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The patterned SWCNT lines are used as thin conductive pathways in SWCNT/Si solar cells, similar to front contact electrodes. The critical parameters of these solar cells are measured and compared to control cells without SWCNT lines. The addition of SWCNT lines increases power conversion efficiency by 40% (relative). Importantly, the SWCNT lines reduce average series resistance by 44%, and consequently increase average fill factor by 24%.

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Insights into chemical doping to engineer the carbon nanotube/silicon photovoltaic heterojunction interface

Cited by 15 publications

References 71 publications

Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Pyramid‐Textured Antireflective Silicon Surface In Graphene Oxide/Single‐Wall Carbon Nanotube–Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Direct‐Patterning SWCNTs Using Dip Pen Nanolithography for SWCNT/Silicon Solar Cells

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Insights into chemical doping to engineer the carbon nanotube/silicon photovoltaic heterojunction interface

Cited by 15 publications

References 71 publications

Ti3C2Tx (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Ti3C2Tx (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Pyramid‐Textured Antireflective Silicon Surface In Graphene Oxide/Single‐Wall Carbon Nanotube–Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Direct‐Patterning SWCNTs Using Dip Pen Nanolithography for SWCNT/Silicon Solar Cells

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Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells

Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene)‐Silicon Heterojunction for Efficient Photovoltaic Cells