Optical and electrical modeling of solar cells based on graphene/Si nanowires with radial p–i–n junctions

Abstract

A solar cell based on vertically aligned silicon p–i–n, core–shell–shell, nanowires interfacing with graphene film is proposed to exploit the benefits of short carrier collection lengths of radial p–i–n junction nanowires and transparency of graphene. A physical device model incorporated with optical characteristics taking into account all recombination processes is established to optimize its electrical performance by modifying nanowires density, filling ratio and thickness. Also, the dependence of the proposed structure to temperature variations and the number of graphene layers on its performance is investigated.