Optoelectronic Evaluation and Loss Analysis of PEDOT:PSS/Si Hybrid Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

The organic/silicon (Si) hybrid heterojunction solar cells (HHSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their potential advantages in high efficiency and low cost. However, as a newly arisen photovoltaic device, its current efficiency is still much worse than commercially available Si solar cells. Therefore, a comprehensive and systematical optoelectronic evaluation and loss analysis on this HHSC is therefore highly necessary to fully explore its efficiency potential. Here, a thoroughly optoelectronic simulation is provided on a typical planar polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/Si HHSC. The calculated spectra of reflection and external quantum efficiency (EQE) match well with the experimental results in a full-wavelength range. The losses in current density, which are contributed by both optical losses (i.e., reflection, electrode shield, and parasitic absorption) and electrical recombination (i.e., the bulk and surface recombination), are predicted via carefully addressing the electromagnetic and carrier-transport processes. In addition, the effects of Si doping concentrations and rear surface recombination velocities on the device performance are fully investigated. The results drawn in this study are beneficial to the guidance of designing high-performance PEDOT:PSS/Si HHSCs.

Self-Consistent Charge Density Functional Tight-Binding Study of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Poly(styrenesulfonate) Ammonia Gas Sensor

“…Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is one of the most promising π-conjugated polymers. Because of its unique properties such as low redox potential [ 1 ], low band gap (1.5–1.6 eV) [ 2 ], and good stability (below 150 °C) [ 3 ], PEDOT can be used in several applications such as transparent electrodes [ 4 , 5 ], printing circuit boards [ 6 , 7 ], OLED displays [ 8 , 9 ], solar cell [ 10 , 11 ], and textile fibers [ 12 ]. To improve the solubility and conductivity of PEDOT, poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS) as a dispersant and a charge-balancing dopant is usually doped into PEDOT during the polymerization [ 10 , 13 – 16 ].…”

Dopant‐Free and Carrier‐Selective Heterocontacts for Silicon Solar Cells: Recent Advances and Perspectives

“…For the PEDOT:PSS/n‐Si HSCs, highly doped PEDOT:PSS with a WF of 5.0–5.1 eV is usually treated as a quasi‐metal or a p‐type semiconductor. Once contact is established between the PEDOT:PSS and the n‐Si substrate, an inversion layer is introduced near the Si surface due to the large conduction band offset that stems from the difference between the Fermi level of n‐Si and the WF of PEDOT:PSS . As shown in Figure c, this conduction band offset at the depletion region provides an effective barrier for blocking electrons moving from the bulk Si to the PEDOT:PSS layer, while the favorable valence band offset contributes to effective holes' transport.…”

“…Once contact is established between the PEDOT:PSS and the n-Si substrate, an inversion layer is introduced near the Si surface due to the large conduction band offset that stems from the difference between the Fermi level of n-Si and the WF of PEDOT:PSS. [4,22,[26][27][28][29] As shown in Figure 1c, this conduction band offset at the depletion region provides an effective barrier for blocking electrons moving from the bulk Si to the PEDOT:PSS layer, while the favorable valence band offset contributes to effective holes' transport. The inversion effect is thus rationally interpreted as a driving force that promotes the hybrid device similar to a common p + n junction.…”

“…The device configuration of PEDOT:PSS/n-Si HSCs and the chemical structures of PEDOT and PSS are presented in Figure 1a,b. [22,23] The device fabrication can be implemented by spin-coating PEDOT:PSS on top of the n-Si substrate and then depositing the front and rear electrodes. In this kind of CSC, the HTL layer of PEDOT:PSS plays multiple roles, including antireflection coating layer (ARC), charge extraction layer, electron-blocking/hole-transporting layer, surface passivation layer, etc.…”

Solid-State Heating Synthesis of Poly (3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene)/Gold/Graphene Composite and Its Application for Amperometric Determination of Nitrite and Iodate

“…Recently, the conducting polymer/gold hybrid materials have been extensively investigated to obtain new kind composite materials with synergetic or complementary behaviors [ 22 , 23 ]. As one of the typical and important part of conducting polymers, poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) has wide applications in the field of displays, smart windows, sensors, capacitors, batteries, and photovoltaic devices [ 24 – 26 ]. Generally, in chemically synthesized PEDOT/Au composites, electrocatalytic performances of the composite could be enhanced through Au–S(thiophene) interactions and the activation of metal ion coordination [ 27 , 28 ].…”