Cu₂O Heterojunction Photovoltaics

Abstract

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is an earth abundant semiconductor that has several promising photovoltaic properties, including high absorption in the visible range, high minority carrier diffusion length, and high majority carrier mobility. Cu2O can be easily synthesized by oxidation of copper foils in air. One important advantage that makes Cu2O highly relevant to today's solar cell markets dominated by crystalline silicon is its wide bandgap of 1.9 eV at room temperature, which makes it an ideal candidate for a top cell in tandem with a crystalline silicon bottom cell. The detailed balance efficiency of such a device exceeds 44%. In this work we aim to understand and address several issues that have limited Cu2O solar cell efficiency. We address the intrinsic p-type nature and chemical instability of Cu2O by pairing it with an appropriate n-type heterojunction partner Zn(O,S), which allows us to achieve devices with open circuit voltages exceeding 1 V. We identify presence of a current blocking layer and reduce it, which results in more than doubling the short circuit current to exceed 5 mA/cm2. Light beam induced current measurements highlight some of the issues inherent to polycrystalline Cu2O solar cells, including grain dependent collection and current losses due to presence of grain boundaries. In order to address the issues affecting Cu2O made by thermal oxidation we also develop thin film growth of Cu2O by molecular beam epitaxy on several substrates including MgO and heteroepitaxial noble metal templates that act as ohmic back contacts. These studies culminate in achievement of the first Cu2O/Zn(O,S) solar cells incorporating an absorber layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy.