Low Saturation Current Density Research Articles

Tunnel oxide passivating contact enabled by polysilicon on ultra-thin SiO2 for advanced silicon radiation detectors

Conventional silicon junction detectors encounter significant carrier recombination within the heavily doped p+ and n+ layers, as well as beneath the metal contact regions, creating the so-called “dead layers”, especially on the detector side. In this study, we present the tunnel oxide passivating contact with doped polysilicon on oxide, which demonstrates exceptional surface passivation and carrier selectivity. The key innovation lies in an ultra-thin (~ 1.5 nm) interfacial oxide layer that facilitates efficient majority carrier transportation via tunneling while effectively block minority carriers. Remarkably low saturation current densities, ranging from 5 to 10 fA/cm2 even with the metal contact, underscore the superiority of both n-type and p-type tunnel oxide passivating contacts. In contrast, conventional p–n junction or high-low junction exhibit saturation current densities ranging from 10 to 90 fA/cm2 in the studied p+ and n+ layers with surface passivation schemes due to Auger recombination and surface recombination, and 1000–6000 fA/cm2 with metal contacts due to intense metal-induced recombination at the interface. These findings indicate the potential and superiority of implementing n-type tunnel oxide passivating contact on the detector side and p-type contact on the back side for advanced silicon radiation detectors. This approach would enable thorough collection of generated charge carriers along the track of incident ionizing radiation particles, leading to improved energy resolution and reduced noise levels.

High‐Performance Transparent Electron‐Selective Contact for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

AbstractHigh‐efficiency silicon solar cells featuring doped silicon layer‐based carrier‐selective contacts suffer from optical losses due to parasitic absorption. In this work, a high‐performance electron‐selective contact with high transparency is presented, consisting of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si:H) passivation layer, atomic‐layer‐deposited conductive magnesium oxide (MgOx) and low‐work‐function aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO). The a‐Si:H/MgOx/AZO stack is demonstrated to be an excellent and transparent electron‐selective contact on c‐Si, featuring a small contact resistivity (ρc) of 56.0 mΩ cm2 and a low saturation current density (J0) of 2.9 fA cm−2 simultaneously. By the implementation of the a‐Si:H/MgOx/AZO front contact, a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.3% is achieved on silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, featuring an absolute short‐circuit current density (Jsc) and PCE gain of 1.3 mA cm−2 and 1.2%, respectively, compared to the conventional phosphorus‐doped silicon layer‐based electron‐selective contact. Moreover, a state‐of‐the‐art PCE of 22.8% is obtained on c‐Si solar cells with dopant‐free asymmetric heterocontacts on both sides, featuring an a‐Si:H/MgOx/AZO front contact and an a‐Si:H/vanadium oxide (VOx) rear contact.

Low-temperature fabrication of boron-doped amorphous silicon passivating contact as a local selective emitter for high-efficiency n-type TOPCon solar cells

Tunnel oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) solar cells (SCs) currently dominate the photovoltaic industry but grapple with efficiency challenges. A primary concern is the direct contact between front-sided metal electrodes and boron emitters, resulting in substantial carrier recombination losses and limiting further efficiency improvements. Here, we introduce a low-temperature approach to deposit a local boron-doped amorphous silicon [a-Si:H(p)] between front-sided metal electrodes and boron emitters. This method, avoiding issues associated with high-temperature processes, demonstrates excellent passivation and contact properties, featuring the lowest contact resistivity (< 1 mΩ·cm2) and a low saturation current density (< 400 fA/cm2). The outstanding passivation and contact properties remain robust even with variations in diborane flow rates during a-Si:H(p) fabrication, annealing temperatures, and sheet resistances of boron emitters. We elucidate the factors contributing to the enhanced passivation observed in boron emitters with a-Si:H(p) through a combination of simulations and experiments. The a-Si:H(p) layer between boron emitters and metal electrodes acts as a protective barrier, preventing the diffusion of metal atoms and suppressing carrier recombination. A heterojunction is formed between a-Si:H(p) and the boron emitter, facilitating electric-field passivation. Consequently, the TOPCon SCs incorporating a-Si:H(p) achieve an efficiency of 24.50%, surpassing their counterparts without a-Si:H(p) (23.11%). This work utilizes low-temperature technology to achieve fully passivated contact, providing insights for the development of high-efficiency TOPCon SCs.

Laser Activation for Highly Boron-Doped Passivated Contacts

Passivated, selective contacts in silicon solar cells consist of a double layer of highly doped polycrystalline silicon (poly Si) and thin interfacial silicon dioxide (SiO2). This design concept allows for the highest efficiencies. Here, we report on a selective laser activation process, resulting in highly doped p++-type poly Si on top of the SiO2. In this double-layer structure, the p++-poly Si layer serves as a layer for transporting the generated holes from the bulk to a metal contact and, therefore, needs to be highly conductive for holes. High boron-doping of the poly Si layers is one approach to establish the desired high conductivity. In a laser activation step, a laser pulse melts the poly Si layer, and subsequent rapid cooling of the Si melt enables electrically active boron concentrations exceeding the solid solubility limit. In addition to the high conductivity, the high active boron concentration in the poly Si layer allows maskless patterning of p++-poly Si/SiO2 layers by providing an etch stop layer in the Si etchant solution, which results in a locally structured p++-poly Si/SiO2 after the etching process. The challenge in the laser activation technique is not to destroy the thin SiO2, which necessitates fine tuning of the laser process. In order to find the optimal processing window, we test laser pulse energy densities (Hp) in a broad range of 0.7 J/cm2 ≤ Hp ≤ 5 J/cm2 on poly Si layers with two different thicknesses dpoly Si,1 = 155 nm and dpoly Si,2 = 264 nm. Finally, the processing window 2.8 J/cm2≤ Hp ≤ 4 J/cm2 leads to the highest sheet conductance (Gsh) without destroying the SiO2 for both poly Si layer thicknesses. For both tested poly Si layers, the majority of the symmetric lifetime samples processed using these Hp achieve a good passivation quality with a high implied open circuit voltage (iVOC) and a low saturation current density (J0). The best sample achieves iVOC = 722 mV and J0 = 6.7 fA/cm2 per side. This low surface recombination current density, together with the accompanying measurements of the doping profiles, suggests that the SiO2 is not damaged during the laser process. We also observe that the passivation quality is independent of the tested poly Si layer thicknesses. The findings of this study show that laser-activated p++-poly Si/SiO2 are not only suitable for integration into advanced passivated contact solar cells, but also offer the possibility of maskless patterning of these stacks, substantially simplifying such solar cell production.

Contact Formation of Silver Paste and Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (n) Poly‐Silicon Passivating Contacts on Planar and Textured Surfaces

One of the main challenges for the industrialization of the passivating contact approach for Si solar cells is the metallization with screen‐printed paste while maintaining the low saturation current density. Using a non‐commercial Ag paste to metallize atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) (n) poly‐Si, the metal contact formation for passivating contacts on planar and textured substrates is investigated. The paste creates deep imprints caused by silver crystallite formation at the pyramid tips of textured silicon wafers. In contrast, on planar wafers, the silver crystallite growth stops at the interface between poly‐Si and the Si wafer. Similar contact resistivities are determined by comparing textured and planar Si samples. On planar samples, a contact resistivity of 4.6(14) mΩcm2 and a saturation current density of only 141(10) fA cm−2 for the metallized contact area are demonstrated. Textured samples with a contact resistivity of 2.7(17) mΩcm2 show a higher saturation current of 480(40) fA cm−2. This etching behavior is investigated by structural and elemental analyses using scanning electron microscopy.

Commercial carbon nanotube as rear contacts for industrial p-type silicon solar cells with an efficiency exceeding 23%

Commercially available single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) soots are combined with an organic passivation scheme and shown to be an efficient rear contact and alternative to ALD-Al2O3/PECVD-SiNx/laser treatment in conventional passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cells. Both low carbonaceous purity 60–70% and 95% SWCNTs are tested and a power conversion efficiency of over 23% is demonstrated. The approach is simple, scalable and completely eliminates the metal-semiconductor contact known to cause high interfacial recombination in PERC technology. A low reverse saturation current density (J0) is achieved by varying the concentration and species of SWCNTs used and a full-area back surface field on an industrial sized (275.54 cm2) solar cell is obtained.

Investigating the degradation behaviours of n+-doped Poly-Si passivation layers: An outlook on long-term stability and accelerated recovery

In this article, we study the kinetics of firing-activated degradation and recovery of industrially processed n + -doped poly-Si on thin oxide passivation layers subjected to illuminated annealing at elevated temperatures. The impact of a comprehensive range of fast-firing conditions on the subsequent degradation and recovery were assessed. The results indicate that the recovery process is dependent on the peak firing temperature, where higher temperatures led to an improvement in effective lifetime of up to 20% compared to the pre-fired state, and a very low surface dark saturation current density of 2.9 fA/cm 2 . By cycling through light soaking and dark anneal conditions, we show that unlike the commonly studied boron-oxygen light-induced degradation (BO-LID) and light- and elevated temperature-induced degradation (LeTID), this newly observed instability in n + -doped poly-Si passivation layers is not reversible, that is, once a degradation/recovery cycle is completed, the lifetime remains very stable under subsequent light soaking. This indicates that the surface related instability may be able to be completely resolved following the completion of the first degradation/recovery cycle. With this in mind, we investigate the potential for high intensity laser illumination (up to 150 kW/m 2 ) to rapidly increase the recovery rates, however, this does not seem sufficient to cycle through degradation and recovery on a timescale that is amenable with mass production. The mitigation of any potential instabilities at the poly-Si interface has significant implications for the reliability of n-type tunneling oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells. • Firing conditions have a significant impact in stability of polysilicon passivation. • The firing-induced surface instability is different to previous degradation modes. • Cycling between degraded and recovered states does not occur.

Fabrication of closed-space sublimation Sb2(S1-xSex)3 thin-film based on a single mixed powder source for photovoltaic application

Because of favourable stability, facile fabrication, non-toxicity, tunable bandgap and high extinction coefficient, Sb 2 (S 1-x Se x ) 3 combined the advantages of Sb 2 S 3 and Sb 2 Se 3 have attracted extensive attention. Unlike previous studies using a preformed target or source of a single composition, our study offered a high‐throughput closed-space sublimation method based on a single mixed powder source of Sb 2 S 3 and Sb 2 Se 3 . We fabricated single-phase and highly crystalline Sb 2 (S 1-x Se x ) 3 films with strong (221) orientation, which is beneficial for the rapid transmission of photon-generated carriers. The bandgap of films evolved from 1.79 eV to 1.38 eV that accompany the varying x value of Se content from 0.14 to 0.85. The corresponding solar cells with the structure of FTO/CdS/Sb 2 (S 1-x Se x ) 3 /Au were fabricated, and then the relationship between performance, source temperature and alloy composition were investigated. The open-circuit voltage and short circuit current density showed opposite trends with increased Se content. Finally, the champion device with a PCE of 2.70% was obtained employing Sb 2 (S 0.25 Se 0.75 ) 3 absorber, which had optimal grain orientation, favourable surface morphology. The bandgap is 1.45 eV, which falls into the ideal bandgap in the Shockley–Queisser limit. A low reverse saturation current density (2.35 × 10 −5 mA/cm 2 ) and the relevant diode ideality factor (1.38) were obtained, which implies favourable junction quality. The CSS technique is expected to improve production efficiency and promote Sb 2 (S 1-x Se x ) 3 solar cell commercial applications, worth further optimization.

Ga-doped Czochralski silicon with rear p-type polysilicon passivating contact for high-efficiency p-type solar cells

The use of Ga-doped Czochralski (CZ) silicon wafers in Passivated Emitter and Rear Cells (PERC) has been confirmed to have a prominent advantage in suppressing light-induced degradation (LID), which will attract considerable attention for the application of Ga-doped wafers in more efficient photovoltaic devices. In this work, we investigate the passivation quality and address the issue of LID in Ga-doped CZ Si wafers equipped with p-type polysilicon passivating contact that consists of an ultrathin SiO x and a heavily doped polysilicon. We also present the modeling results for solar cells using this type of contact. The experiments show that samples with Ga-doped CZ Si wafers have superior anti-LID properties when compared to the samples with B-doped wafers. An excellent passivation performance with a high implied open-circuit voltage ( iV oc ) of 705 mV and a low single-sided saturation current density ( J 0,s ) of 9 fA/cm 2 was achieved. Moreover, with the help of the numerical simulations, we predict that the p-type Ga-doped CZ Si solar cells with p-type polysilicon passivating contacts have the potential to achieve a high efficiency of 23.8%, an ~0.5% absolute efficiency improvement over that of PERC solar cells. The results demonstrated in this study suggest that Ga-doped CZ Si wafers combined with p-type polysilicon passivating contacts could resolve the LID issue while maintaining good passivation properties, providing a promising alternative for p-type solar cells in the photovoltaic industry. • The p-type TOPC on featuring Ga-doped CZ Si wafers achieved an excellent passivation quality with iV oc > 705 mV. • The passivation improvement sources of Ga-doped CZ Si-based structures were attributed to the suppression of B- and O-related defects. • Ga-doped TOPCon solar cells show the LID-free performance. • Simulation results show a comparable efficiency of 23.8% for Ga-doped TOPCon solar cells.

The influence of posttreatment processes on the structures and the optical and electrical properties of CuInS2 and its heterojunction with various sulfides (CdS, CdZnS, and CdCuS)

As the first essential step toward understanding how to obtain an efficient CuInS2-based solar cell, this paper studied the photoelectric properties of CuInS2 and sulfide P–N heterojunction. For this purpose, the single-source evaporation method and the chemical bath deposition had been applied to prepare CuInS2 films and sulfide films (CdS, CdZnS, and CdCuS), respectively. The powder source was obtained from CuInS2 polycrystalline ingot, which consists of CuInS2 chalcopyrite phase. The segregated CuxS secondary phase on the surfaces of CuInS2 films could be removed by etching of bromine–methanol (BM) solution. The structures of ternary sulfide films (CdZnS and CdCuS) were similar to that of CdS film. The transient photocurrent of CdZnS thin film was highest, which might be related to the high reaction activity and the good crystal quality. Furthermore, the I–V response of CuInS2 and CdZnS heterojunction was studied, which was close to the ideal diode type behavior. The low reverse saturation current density, the optimal diode ideality factor, and the high barrier height were obtained from the I–V curve of CuInS2 and CdZnS heterojunction, which might mean that the CdZnS film could be suitable to use in photovoltaic application.

Electrical and photoelectric properties of Yb/CIGS thin film Schottky photodiode

The electrical and photovoltaic properties of Yb/CIGS thin film Schottky photodiode were studied. A low saturation current density of 3.2 × 10−9 A/cm2 and a high zero-bias barrier height of 0.92 eV were obtained from current–voltage (I–V) measurements taken under dark and at room temperature. We observed that the I–V characteristic of the device was affected by the illumination. The device showed a good photodiode property with Ilight/Idark≈103 at the lowest illumination level of 25 mW/cm2. The value of series resistance decreased with increasing the illumination level. The values of open-circuit voltage and short circuit current density were respectively determined as 0.30 V and 78.6 μA/cm2 under the illumination level of 104 mW/cm2. The carrier concentration of the CIGS was found to be 1.59 × 1015 cm−3. The barrier height value of 0.61 eV obtained from capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurement at 1 MHz is lower than that determined from the semilogarithmic I–V plot.

Development of thin polysilicon layers for application in monoPoly™ cells with screen-printed and fired metallization

Passivating contacts are an important technological innovation for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells that can deliver efficiencies of over 24% in mass production. In this study, we comprehensively analyze n-type bifacial c-Si solar cells with rear side SiOx/phosphorus-doped (n+) poly-Si passivating contacts (monoPoly™ cells) with varying thicknesses (50–250 nm) of the n+ poly-Si layer. The poly-Si layers are deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and then phosphorus doped ex-situ in a diffusion furnace. The ex-situ doping is carefully optimized for each individual thickness to achieve a step-function-like doping profile. Excellent passivation properties are achieved with the SiOx/n+ poly-Si stack, with a dark saturation current density of only 1 fA/cm2 for 150 nm n+ poly-Si layers. Metallization is realized by screen printing using commercially available fire-through pastes. Very low dark saturation current densities of <50 fA/cm2 are achieved under the metal contacts for n+ poly-Si thicknesses ≥100 nm. Trade-offs in the cells’ current-voltage (I–V) parameters are analyzed as a function of n+ poly-Si thickness and efficiency limiting factors are identified for cells with 50 nm n+ poly-Si layers.

Rapid thermal processing of cost‐effective contacts for silicon solar cells

AbstractThis paper reports on the investigation of rapid thermal processing (RTP) of contacting the Al‐BSF solar cell with Ag, Cu, and Ni in conjunction with aerosol printing technique. The study showed a liftoff and delamination, respectively, for the bi and tri stack layers of Ag frit/Ni and Ag frit/Ni/Cu fired above 790°C peak firing temperature. The 770°C peak firing temperature gave excellent electrical performance for both bi and tri stack layer contacts, which is not favorable to forming thick back surface field (BSF) required for high open circuit voltage (VOC). This suggests that the bilayer and trilayer contacts involving Ag frit are limited to low peak firing temperature, but Ni frit, on the other hand, showed a wider firing temperature range. This is supported by low reverse saturation current density (J02) of 1.1 × 10−11 A/cm2 and high shunt resistance (RSH) of 5750 Ω·cm2 for the Ni frit fired at 800°C peak firing temperature. More so, the adhesion of Ni Frit to silicon is better than Ag counterpart as evidenced in the SEM micrograph. Thus, by adopting RTP Ni/Cu contacts, the cost of metallization of solar cell can be dropped from 35% of total processing cost to only 5% to 6%, which is approximately 30% drop in the total cost of processing.

Screen printed, large area bifacial N-type back junction silicon solar cells with selective phosphorus front surface field and boron doped poly-Si/SiOx passivated rear emitter

This paper reports on the effect of screen printed metallization on the passivation quality of a boron doped poly-Si/SiOx passivated contact (PC) structure composed of a very thin Si oxide (∼15 Å) capped with boron doped poly-Si. Our boron doped poly-Si/SiOx passivated contact (p-Poly Si/SiOx PC) with a SiNx capping layer gave excellent surface passivation with a very low saturation current density of ∼5 fA/cm2. After screen printed metallization on poly-Si with a metal coverage of ∼10%, this value increased to ∼17 fA/cm2. This paper also demonstrates the fabrication of screen printed, large area (239 cm2), high efficiency (∼21%) n-base bifacial back junction Si solar cells with p-Poly-Si/SiOx PC on the rear and a phosphorus implanted n++-n+ selective front surface field. Detailed analysis is performed to quantify recombination and extract the saturation current density contributions (J0) from each layer of the cell including the metallized front surface field and the tunnel oxide passivated contact. Finally, 2D device modeling of this back junction cell is performed by implementing a simple approach which replaces the p-Poly-Si/SiOx PC by an equivalent p-n junction with the same J0 and gives a good match between the measured and simulated cell parameters using the extracted J0 and recombination velocity values.

Elucidation of Iron Gettering Mechanisms in Boron-Implanted Silicon Solar Cells

To facilitate cost-effective manufacturing of boron-implanted silicon solar cells as an alternative to BBr3 diffusion, we performed a quantitative test of the gettering induced by solar-typical boron-implants with the potential for low saturation current density emitters (<50 fA/cm2). We show that depending on the contamination level and the gettering anneal chosen, such boron-implanted emitters can induce more than a 99.9% reduction in bulk iron point defect concentration. The iron point defect results as well as synchrotron-based nano-X-ray-fluorescence investigations of iron precipitates formed in the implanted layer imply that, with the chosen experimental parameters, iron precipitation is the dominant gettering mechanism, with segregation-based gettering playing a smaller role. We reproduce the measured iron point defect and precipitate distributions via kinetics modeling. First, we simulate the structural defect distribution created by the implantation process, and then we model these structural defects as heterogeneous precipitation sites for iron. Unlike previous theoretical work on gettering via boron- or phosphorus-implantation, our model is free of adjustable simulation parameters. The close agreement between the model and experimental results indicates that the model successfully captures the necessary physics to describe the iron gettering mechanisms operating in boron-implanted silicon. This modeling capability allows high-performance, cost-effective implanted silicon solar cells to be designed.

Metallisation of Boron‐Doped Polysilicon Layers by Screen Printed Silver Pastes

In this work, we report on hole selective passivating contacts, which consist of a SiOx tunnel layer and an in situ boron‐doped 300 nm thick p+ polysilicon layer deposited by LPCVD. Using a SiNx:H capping layer, we show an extremely low dark saturation current density J0 of 1 fA cm−2 after contact firing. At the same time, we demonstrate that commercially available and screen‐printed fire through Ag pastes are capable of contacting the p+ polysilicon layer, with minimum contact resistance ρc = 2 mΩ cm2. We do find increased interface recombination below the metal contacts of around 250 fA cm−2, which represents a considerable advance compared to conventional screen printed metallisation on diffused junctions.

Fabrication and Modeling of High-Efficiency Front Junction N-Type Silicon Solar Cells With Tunnel Oxide Passivating Back Contact

This paper reports on in-depth understanding, modeling, and fabrication of 23.8% efficient 4 cm2 n-type Float Zone (FZ) silicon cells with a selective boron emitter and photolithography contact on front and tunnel oxide passivating contact on the back. Tunnel oxide passivating contact composed of a very thin chemically grown silicon oxide (∼15 A) capped with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) grown 20 nm n+ poly Si gave excellent surface passivation and carrier selectivity with very low saturation current density (∼5 fA/cm2). A high-quality boron selective emitter was formed using ion implantation and solid source diffusion to minimize metal recombination and emitter saturation current density. Process optimization resulted in a cell $V_{{\rm{oc}}}$ of 712 mV, $J_{{\rm{sc}}}$ of 41.2 mA/cm2, and FF of 0.811. A simple methodology is used to model these cells which replaces tunnel oxide passivating contact region by electron and hole recombination velocities extracted from measured saturation current density of tunnel oxide passivating contact region and analysis. Using this approach and two-dimensional device modeling gave an excellent match between the measured and simulated cell parameters and efficiency, supporting excellent passivation and carrier selectivity of these contacts. Extended simulations showed that 26% cell efficiency can be achieved with this cell structure by further optimization of wafer quality, emitter profile, and contact design.

Development and characterization of multifunctional PassDop layers for local p+-laser doping

We present the development of aluminum oxide (AlOx) and boron-doped silicon nitride (SiNx:B) layer stacks for application on the back side of monocrystalline p-type silicon wafers. Two deposition techniques are used for the deposition of the AlOx/SiNx:B layer stacks, atomic layer deposition and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Both techniques enable excellent surface passivation with surface recombination velocities of 4 cm/s after firing. Also, heavy local doping with sheet resistances down to 20 Ω/sq is possible by laser processing. We call this concept the PassDop approach. For the laser processed area where the silicon surface is locally boron-doped and the AlOx/SiNx:B passivation layer stack is locally removed, a quite low dark saturation current density of about 900 fA/cm2 is determined. The PassDop approach can be a solution to realize passivated emitter and rear locally doped PERL solar cells by improving their rear side properties while maintaining industrial applicability.

Junction Resistivity of Carrier-Selective Polysilicon on Oxide Junctions and Its Impact on Solar Cell Performance

We investigate the junction resistivity of high-quality carrier-selective polysilicon on oxide (POLO) junctions with the transfer length method. We demonstrate ${{n}}^{+ }$ POLO junctions with a saturation current density $J_{{\rm{C,poly}}}$ of 6.2 fA/cm2 and a junction resistivity $\rho _{{\rm{c}}}$ of 0.6 mΩcm2, counterdoped ${{n}}^{+ }$ POLO junctions with 2.7 fA/cm2 and 1.3 mΩcm2, and ${{p}}^{+ }$ POLO junctions with 6.7 fA/cm2 and 0.2 mΩcm2. Such low junction resistivities and saturation current densities correspond to excellent selectivities $S_{{10}}$ of up to 16.2. The efficiency potential for back-junction back-contact solar cells with these POLO junctions was determined to be larger than 25 % by numerical device simulations. We demonstrate experimentally a back-junction back-contact solar cell with p -type and n -type POLO junctions with an independently confirmed efficiency of 24.25 %.

Influence of Zn concentration and dye adsorption time on the photovoltaic performance of M-SILAR deposited ZnO-based dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been deposited with ultrasonic rinsing assisted modified successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (M-SILAR) method. The effect of Zn concentration on the growth of ZnO films and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been studied. The surface morphology changes from nanorods to the nanoflowers like structure as a result of coalescence of the nanorods. Also, the significant effect of the dye adsorption time of photoelectrodes on the overall PCE of ZnO based DSSCs has been investigated systematically. It is found that the chemical stability is the foremost issue for ZnO photoelectrode. The prolonged dye adsorption time is responsible for the deterioration of the ZnO nanostructure due to the formation of Zn2+/N3 dye aggregates. The DSSC prepared using photoelectrode of 0.1 M Zn concentration and dye loading time of 18 h exhibited a highest PCE of 0.70%, since it possesses well-defined 1D nanostructure which facilitates very low reverse saturation current density and longer electron lifetime.