Nanowire-Based All-Oxide Solar Cells

Yuhas, Benjamin D.; Yang, Peidong

doi:10.1021/ja8095575

Cited by 349 publications

(253 citation statements)

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“…High aspect-ratio semiconductor microwire and nanowire array structures have shown promise in liquid junction devices for solar energy-conversion applications (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). A key attribute of these wire array structures is the orthogonalization of the directions of light absorption and photogenerated charge-carrier collection (19).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation and optimization of mass transport of redox species in silicon microwire-array photoelectrodes

Xiang

Meng

Lewis

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Physical integration of a Ag electrical contact internally into a metal/substrate/microstructured Si wire array/oxide/Ag/electrolyte photoelectrochemical solar cell has produced structures that display relatively low ohmic resistance losses, as well as highly efficient mass transport of redox species in the absence of forced convection. Even with front-side illumination, such wire-array based photoelectrochemical solar cells do not require a transparent conducting oxide top contact. In contact with a test electrolyte that contained 50 mM/5.0 mM of the cobaltocenium þ∕0 redox species in CH 3 CN-1.0 M LiClO 4 , when the counterelectrode was placed in the solution and separated from the photoelectrode, mass transport restrictions of redox species in the internal volume of the Si wire array photoelectrode produced low fill factors and limited the obtainable current densities to 17.6 mA cm −2 even under high illumination. In contrast, when the physically integrated internal Ag film served as the counter electrode, the redox couple species were regenerated inside the internal volume of the photoelectrode, especially in regions where depletion of the redox species due to mass transport limitations would have otherwise occurred. This behavior allowed the integrated assembly to operate as a twoterminal, stand-alone, photoelectrochemical solar cell. The current density vs. voltage behavior of the integrated photoelectrochemical solar cell produced short-circuit current densities in excess of 80 mA cm −2 at high light intensities, and resulted in relatively low losses due to concentration overpotentials at 1 Sun illumination. The integrated wire array-based device architecture also provides design guidance for tandem photoelectrochemical cells for solardriven water splitting.semiconductor/liquid junctions | Si microwire arrays | COMSOL Multiphysics T o yield optimal solar energy-conversion efficiencies, photoelectrochemical cells require highly effective mass transport of redox species between the photoelectrode and the counter electrode, as well as in the internal void volume of porous, microstructured photoelectrodes. Although the fundamental energyconversion properties of many semiconductor photoelectrodes are well-documented, the mass transport of reactants and products in highly structured electrochemical systems has received relatively little attention. Diffusion-limited mass transport during the electrochemical deposition of metals onto planar electrodes has been investigated by Scharifker and Hills (1) in the early 1980s, and has been further expanded upon in other studies (2-5). Penner et al. (6) have studied the mass-transport properties of conical and hemispherical ultramicroelectrodes in electrochemical cells. Mass transport in nanocrystalline TiO 2 -based dyesensitized solar cells has also been treated theoretically (7-12). Of specific interest herein is the mass transport of redox species in the internal pore volume of highly microstructured electrodes, such as Si wire array photoelectrodes.High aspect-ratio ...

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confidence: 99%

Evaluation and optimization of mass transport of redox species in silicon microwire-array photoelectrodes

Xiang

Meng

Lewis

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…͓doi:10.1063/1.3567527͔ To achieve a high energy conversion efficiency, a solar cell must be thick enough for sufficient light absorption, yet it must be thin enough for efficient carrier collection. [1][2][3] Recently, the applications of nanocoax, 1 nanocone, 4,5 nanodome, 6 nanopillar, 7,8 nanorod, 2,3,9-13 and nanowire [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] structures for solar cells have attracted great interest. Compared to the conventional planar thin film counterparts, the nanostructured devices demonstrate the benefits of enhancing charge collection and improving light absorption simultaneously, due to their unique geometry.…”

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Nanorod solar cell with an ultrathin a-Si:H absorber layer

Kuang

Werf

Houweling

et al. 2011

Applied Physics Letters

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We propose a nanostructured three-dimensional ͑nano-3D͒ solar cell design employing an ultrathin hydrogenated amorphous silicon ͑a-Si:H͒ n-i-p junction deposited on zinc oxide ͑ZnO͒ nanorod arrays. The ZnO nanorods were prepared by aqueous chemical growth at 80°C. The photovoltaic performance of the nanorod/a-Si:H solar cell with an ultrathin absorber layer of only 25 nm is experimentally demonstrated. An efficiency of 3.6% and a short-circuit current density of 8.3 mA/ cm 2 were obtained, significantly higher than values achieved for planar or even textured counterparts with three times thicker ͑ϳ75 nm͒ a-Si:H absorber layers.

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“…In an ideal device, R s = 0 and R sh = ? (Yuhas and Yang 2009). The parasitic resistance (R s and R sh ) can be calculated using equation of single diode model (Chenni et al 2007)…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards efficient and cost-effective inverted hybrid organic solar cells using inorganic semiconductor in the active layer

et al. 2017

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The article investigates the effects of NiO (ptype) and TiO 2 (n-type) nanoparticles (NPs) on the performance of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and (phenyl-C61-butyric acid methylester) (PCBM) based devices with an inverse geometry. Various weight ratios of these nanoparticles were mixed in the polymer solution using 1,2-dichlorobenzene as solvent. An optimal amount of NPs-doped active layer exhibited higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.85% as compared to the reference cell, which exhibited an efficiency of 3.40% under white light illumination intensity of 100 mW/cm 2 . Enhanced PCE originates from increased film roughness and light harvesting due to increased absorption range upon mixing an optimal amount of NPs in the organic-based active layer. Further addition of NiO and TiO 2 concentration relative to PCBM resulted in significant agglomeration of nanoparticles leading to degraded device parameters.

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Nanowire-Based All-Oxide Solar Cells

Cited by 349 publications

References 23 publications

Evaluation and optimization of mass transport of redox species in silicon microwire-array photoelectrodes

Evaluation and optimization of mass transport of redox species in silicon microwire-array photoelectrodes

Nanorod solar cell with an ultrathin a-Si:H absorber layer

Towards efficient and cost-effective inverted hybrid organic solar cells using inorganic semiconductor in the active layer

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