High-performance radial junction solar cells on ZnO coated stainless steel with excellent flexibility and durability

Abstract

High flexibility and industrial compatibility are the key factors for developing large-scale lightweight, wearable, and portable thin film flexible solar cells. Here, a rather flexible and mechanically durable three-dimensional (3D) radial junction (RJ) solar cell has been directly constructed over discrete standing Si nanowires (SiNWs), upon flexible ZnO-coated stainless steel (SS) foil substrates. The ZnO layer deposited on the SS surface can optimize the density of SiNWs to improve the optoelectronic performance. A power conversion efficiency of 6.01% has been accomplished, with open-circuit voltage and photo-current density of 0.76 V and 12.87 mA/cm2, respectively. Remarkably, the outstanding mechanical stability of these RJ devices has been recorded, which can sustain > 4000 cycles of large bending to a radius of 2.5 mm, with only a 7% efficiency decrease. Note that the one-pump-down fabrication procedure of this 3D nanostructure RJ cells upon flexible ZnO-coated SS substrates is compatible with the industrial-mainstream Roll-to-Roll technology, holding thus a strong promise to establishing a simple and low-cost strategy for high-performance and durable flexible photovoltaics.