Abstract
Solution-based heterojunction technology is emerging for facile fabrication of silicon (Si)-based solar cells. Surface passivation of Si substrate has been well established to improve the photovoltaic (PV) performance for the conventional bulk Si cells. However, the impact is still not seen for the heterojunction cells. Here, we developed a facile and repeatable method to passivate the Si surface by a simple 1-min annealing process in vacuum, and integrated it into the heterojunction cells with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) or carbon nanotube (CNT). A thin and dense oxide layer was introduced on the Si surface to provide a high-quality hole transport layer and passivation layer. The layer enhanced the power conversion efficiency from 9.34% to 12.87% (1.38-times enhancement) for the PEDOT:PSS/n-Si cells and from 6.61% to 8.52% (1.29-times enhancement) for the CNT/n-Si cells. The simple passivation is a promising way to enhance the PV performance of the Si cells with various solution-based heterojunctions.
Highlights
Solar energy is one of the sustainable and renewable energy sources for generating electricity and clean fuels
We demonstrated solution-processed carbon nanotube (CNT)/n-Si heterojunction solar cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.4% based on the textured n-type Si wafer and p-type CNT films[16]
We first investigated the effect of the passivation on the PV performance for the PEDOT:PSS/n-Si heterojunction solar cells
Summary
Solar energy is one of the sustainable and renewable energy sources for generating electricity and clean fuels. Simple solution-based fabrication of Si heterojunction solar cells is a promising method to further reduce the cost of the PV devices. For conventional bulk Si solar cells, various approaches such as thermal oxidation, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition have been shown to be effective in performance enhancement, but such passivation methods are based on long www.nature.com/scientificreports/. To realize the new solution-based heterojunction solar cells, surface passivation has been studied by exposure to the ambient atmosphere or chemical oxidation. These methods are very sensitive to the environmental conditions, leading to a low-quality passivation layer[23,24]. Future prospect for the low-cost, flexible thin-film Si solar cells is discussed
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