Short Diffusion Length Research Articles

Superionic conductivity in lithium argyrodite solid-state electrolyte by controlled Cl-doping

The lithium ion conductivity of lithium argyrodite can be improved by introducing Cl to tailor the S/Cl disorder in the structure. An ultrafast room temperature lithium ion conductivity of up to 6.4 mS/cm was achieved for Li5.7PS4.7Cl1.3. The synthesis parameters for Li7-xPS6-xClx (x = 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9) are systematically investigated to obtain pure lithium argyrodite phase with high ionic conductivity. AC impedance spectroscopy and 7Li spin-lattice relaxation NMR are utilized to show the enhancement of lithium ion conductivity caused by the incorporation of Cl. Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations proved that the introduction of Cl can effectively decrease the energy barriers for lithium ion migration in both short and long diffusion length scales. All-solid-state lithium batteries using LiNbO3-coated LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 cathode and Li5.7PS4.7Cl1.3 solid electrolyte display high discharge capacities and excellent cycling performances at relatively high current densities. EIS and galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) further confirm that the improved electrochemical performance can be attributed to the mitigation of voltage polarization and reduction of the interfacial resistance between the cathode and solid electrolyte.

Strategy towards enhanced performance of zeolite catalysts: Raising effective diffusion coefficient versus reducing diffusion length

In the present study, two strategies for improving the catalyst efficiency either by (1) raising the effective diffusion coefficient or (2) reducing the diffusion length of zeolite catalysts are presented. These two strategies are exemplified by the preparation of (i) ordered mesoporous material with zeotype secondary building units and (ii) self-assembled nanosized zeolites. The textural properties, acidity, and the results from the cumene cracking show that the strength and amount of Brønsted acid sites of the mesoporous materials are inferior, due to their amorphous pore walls. Even though the lifespan of ordered mesoporous material with zeotype secondary building units during cumene cracking can be improved due to the effective diffusion coefficient enhancement, the strength and amount of Brønsted acid sites related to the reaction are not akin to conventional microporous zeolites. While the self-assembled nanosized zeolites with short diffusion length shows enhanced catalytic performance by diffusion controlled reactions.

Polypyrrole modified hierarchical porous CoS2@RGO aerogel electrode for ultrafast sodium storage

CoS2 nanooctahedrons homogeneously encapsulated by hierarchical porous-reduced graphene oxide and polypyrrole thin film are constructed via a simple hydrothermal route, followed by vapor polymerization reaction. Owing to the porous conductive network and robust structural integrity characteristics, the optimal CoS2@RGO@PPy aerogel can not only facilitate electron and ion transfer but also shorten diffusion length and alleviate strain stress, ensuring superior sodium storage in terms of high capacity, excellent rate capability, and cycling stability. With a CoS2 content of 54.9%, CoS2@RGO@PPy electrode delivers a discharge capacity of 744 mAh g−1 at the current density of 0.1 A g−1. Moreover, it yields a reversible capacity of 554 mAh g−1 at 2.0 A g−1, higher than that of 495 mAh g−1 for CoS2@RGO electrode. The superior rate capability can be attributed to the favored surface capacitive behavior. And a combined contribution of diffusion-controlled and capacitive-induced process are derived. Furthermore, CoS2@RGO@PPy electrode maintains 348 mAh g−1 over a long period of 700 cycles at a high current density of 3 A g−1 and a capacity retention of 65.8%. The strategy can be extended to tailor the electrode structures for high-performance sodium-ion batteries.

On-chip mixing of liquids with swap structures written by two-photon polymerization

A fluidic micromixer realized by two-photon polymerization writing is embedded in a predefined microchannel. The micromixer consists of a 3D defined channel system which swaps incoming fluid streams, resulting in laminar alternating streams consisting of the two liquids to be mixed. Due to the shortened diffusion length, mixing times are reduced dramatically to 50 ms or lower. The structure is designed in such a way that the fluidic resistance in each swapper channel is balanced, yielding equal distribution of the alternating streams. The mixer element has a total size of about $$225\times 100\times 50\,\upmu \hbox {m}^{3}$$, fitting exactly in a prefabricated microchannel. The structure is strongly anchored in the channel so that it can handle high flow rates of up to 100 $$\upmu \text {L/min}$$ (corresponding to an average flow velocity of $$400\,\text {mm/s}$$). A benefit of the fabrication method is the short processing time. The writing of one mixer element takes less than $$30\,\text {s}$$, so that a whole wafer can be processed in typically less than one hour.

High-quality rGO/MoS2 composite via a facile “prereduction-microwave” strategy for enhanced lithium and sodium storage

High-quality graphene and graphene-based composites with optimized conductivity and surface chemistry state are crucial to the practical application in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems. Here, we first propose a facile and general “prereduction-microwave” strategy to repair the lattice defects of reduced graphene oxides composites just in a few seconds, particularly, which has been successfully carried out on rGO/MoS2 composite previously synthesized through the hydrothermal method. This post repaired strategy not only can effectively improve the conductivity of graphene framework, but also well preserve the structural properties of graphene-based composites. Therefore, the optimized rGO/MoS2 composite achieves improved conductivity, good wettability, short ion diffusion length and excellent structural stability compared to the untreated rGO/MoS2 composite, which presents desirable capacity of 734 mAh g−1 for 200 cycles at 0.5 A g−1 and 335 mAh g−1 for 100 cycles at 1 A g−1 for lithium ion and sodium ion storage, respectively. This method will further promote the development of graphene-based materials for efficient energy storage and conversion.

Review—Defect-Tolerant Luminescent Properties of Low InN Mole Fraction InxGa1-xN Quantum Wells under the Presence of Polarization Fields

Different from the case of GaN or AlGaN alloys, the near-band-edge (NBE) emission of quantum wells (QWs) and even epilayers of InxGa1-xN alloys of low InN mole fractions (x) exhibits high quantum-efficiency (QE) against the presence of threading dislocations (TDs) as high as 109 cm−2. Accordingly InxGa1-xN alloys are exclusively used as an active region of green to ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes, as well as the heart of white LEDs. Here, current understandings on the emission mechanisms of InxGa1-xN QWs, especially the defect-tolerant emission probability of localized excitons, are reviewed. There exist three disadvantages in obtaining high QE, namely a high density of TDs that cause the nonradiative recombination, kinetic immiscibility of In-containing alloys that introduces high-concentration Shockley-Read-Hall nonradiative recombination centers (NRCs) consisting of vacancy complexes, and high internal electric-fields across the QWs induced by the polarization discontinuities at heterointerfaces along the c-axis, which decrease the radiative recombination rate. The use of InxGa1-xN alloys of low x overcomes such disadvantages with the aid of In-originated localization effects that prevent excitons from trapping by TDs or NRCs. Simultaneous observation of short diffusion length and sufficiently long nonradiative recombination lifetime at room temperature indicates strong localization of holes or excitons.

Photoelectrochemical water oxidation in α-Fe2O3 thin films enhanced by a controllable wet-chemical Ti-doping strategy and Co–Pi co-catalyst modification

The poor electrical conductivity, short hole diffusion length, and slow water oxidation reaction kinetics have severely limited the photoelectrochemical performance of the hematite (α-Fe2O3) photoanodes. In this paper, we report a facile wet-chemical approach to prepare the Ti-doping controllable hematite photoanode with subsequent Co–Pi electrocatalysts modification for solar water splitting. By optimizing the Ti-doping in Fe2O3, the Ti–Fe2O3 photoanodes can retain the primary morphology with the pristine Fe2O3 nanostructures, while simultaneously reducing the photogenerated charge carrier recombination rate in the films. Besides, by further decorating with Co–Pi co-catalysts on Ti–Fe2O3 surface, the formed Ti–Fe2O3/Co–Pi photoanode demonstrated an accelerated electrode/electrolyte kinetics during photoelectrochemical water oxidation reaction. As expected, the Ti–Fe2O3/Co–Pi photoanode produced an improved photocurrent density of 0.76 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs RHE, which is much higher than the photocurrent density of individual Fe2O3 (0.25 mA/cm2) and Ti–Fe2O3 photoanode (0.51 mA/cm2). This work provides a good insight for designing the composite photoanode to simultaneously enhance the charge transport and surface water oxidation kinetics for efficient solar fuel production.

Co(OH)2/BiVO4 photoanode in tandem with a carbon-based perovskite solar cell for solar-driven overall water splitting

BiVO4 as a promising candidate photoanode material for PEC water splitting has been paid much attention due to its low cost, nontoxicity, high stability and narrow band gap energy of 2.4 eV. However, owing to its short carrier diffusion length and poor charge separation consequence, the achieved efficiency of the BiVO4 photoanode is still limited. Herein, we addressed this issue by loading Co(OH)2 onto as-prepared BiVO4 to fabricate Co(OH)2/BiVO4 heterojunction photoanode via a simple solution impregnation method, in which Co(OH)2 as a modifier can increase interface charge separation efficiency from 44% of BiVO4 to 92% of Co(OH)2/BiVO4. As a result, the water-splitting photocurrent density was significantly enhanced from 1.57 mA/cm2 of BiVO4 to 4.52 mA/cm2 of Co(OH)2/BiVO4 at 1.23 V vs. RHE under 1-sun illumination. Further, the Co(OH)2/BiVO4 photoanode was assembled in tandem with a single sealed carbon-based PSC, and the resulting PV-PEC device showed a high STH efficiency of 4.6% and decent stability. The produced H2 and O2 gases were determined as ∼68 μmol/cm2/h and ∼34 μmol/cm2/h, respectively, corresponding to the 2:1 ratio of water splitting reaction with a faradaic efficiency of ∼98%.

Optimization of MAPbI$_3$-Based Perovskite Solar Cell With Textured Surface

In this article, the optimized condition for a perovskite solar cell (PSC) with textured surface has been calculated. To accurately model the transport in organic material and organic/inorganic interface, the Gaussian-like density of state function was utilized into Poisson and drift-diffusion solver to present the tail states in the organic material. To calibrate the simulation model, the planar structures with published experimental results are compared. Our results show that the textured structure can improve the open-circuit voltage (V $_{\text{oc}}$ ) and fill factor and overcome the major problem of PSC because of the short diffusion length. Finally, the efficiency has been improved from 17.8% (planar) to 20.8% (textured). If the metal contact with a suitable work function is chosen, it can be further improved to 22.9%.

One-step solvothermal synthesis of nanoflake-nanorod WS2 hybrid for non-enzymatic detection of uric acid and quercetin in blood serum.

Herein, we report a novel, one-step solvothermal assisted thermal decomposition synthesis of nanoflake-nanorod tungsten disulphide (WS2) nanomaterial and its application for non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing of uric acid (UA) and quercetin. The as-synthesised WS2 was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM analysis revealed the growth of 2D-1D nanoflake-nanorod hybrid nanostructure of 2H phase WS2 with greater defects and metal edges. Under optimized conditions, the WS2 modified glassy carbon electrode (WS2/GCE) facilitated the effective sensing of UA and quercetin which was measured using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technique. The sensor exhibited a low limit of detection (LoD) of 1.2 μM, the sensitivity of 312 nA/μM.cm2 for the dynamic range from 5 μM to 1 mM towards UA while an even lower of 2.4 nM and sensitivity of 258 nA/nM cm2 in the dynamic range of 10 nM-50 μM for quercetin. The enhanced sensing ability of the sensor attributed towards the synergetic effect of 2D-1D hybrid structure of WS2, wherein the 2D nanoflakes enhance the electrocatalytic property of WS2 with shorter diffusion length and 1D nanorods offer large surface area which provides greater number of active sites for sensing. Further, the sensor showed a remarkable selectivity towards UA and quercetin in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), sodium (Na+), chloride (Cl-), calcium (Ca2+) and glucose. The sensor was further employed in successful detection of UA and quercetin in the simulated blood serum sample with excellent recovery percentages. The proposed synthesis route can be used to develop WS2 based electrochemical sensing platforms useful for various bioanalytical applications.

Enhanced Light Absorption and Charge Carrier Management in Core‐Shell Fe2O3@Nickel Nanocone Photoanodes for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

AbstractSolar driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is a clean and sustainable approach to generate green fuel, Hydrogen. Hematite (Fe2O3) is considered as potential photoanode because of its abundance, chemical stability and suitable band gap, though its short carrier diffusion length puts a limit on the film thickness and subsequent light absorption capability. In this regard, here we have designed and constructed a unique photoanode by depositing ultrathin films of Fe2O3 on purpose‐built three‐dimensional (3D) nickel nanocone arrays. In this design, 3D nanostructures not only provide ameliorated surface area for PEC reactions but also enhance light absorption capability in ultrathin Fe2O3 films, while ultrathin films promote charge carrier separation and effective transfer to the electrolyte. The 3D electrodes exhibit a substantial improvement in light absorption capability within the entire visible region of solar spectrum, as well as enhanced photocurrent density as compared to the planar Fe2O3 photoelectrode. Detailed investigation of reaction kinetics suggests an optimum Fe2O3 film thickness on 3D nanocone arrays obtained after 6 deposition cycles in achieving maximum charge carrier separation and transfer efficiencies (82 % and 88 %, respectively), mainly ascribable to the increased charge carrier lifetime overcoming recombination losses.

Architecting hierarchical shell porosity of hollow prussian blue-derived iron oxide for enhanced Li storage.

Delicate architecture of active material enables improving the performacne of lithium ion batteries. Environmental-friendly Fe2 O3 anode has high theoretical specific capacity (1007 mAh g-1 ) in lithium ion batteries, but suffers from structural collapsing and poor electronic conductivity. Herein, we design an unique hierarchical iron oxide by regulating the initial precursor prussian blue and targeting hollow-shell structures with full consideration of temperature controls. Among them, Fe2 O3 with a sheet-crossing structure at 650°C, affords obvious advantages of improved electronic conductivity, short ionic diffusion length, prevented particle agglomeration, and buffer volume change. Thus, we achieve a superior discharge specific capacity of 611 mAh g-1 at 500 mA g-1 . Regulating hierarchical structure of prussian blue-assisted oxides enables effectively enchancing Li storge performance. LAY DESCRIPTION: Nanoparticle self-assembly, one of bottom-up methods is often used to prepare hollow hierarchical structures, whereas it suffers from low productivity and insufficient stability. Hence, we designed a unique hierarchical iron oxide by top-down method with regulating the initial precursor PB and targeting hollow-shell structures through full consideration of temperature controls. Delicate architecture of active material enables improving the performacne of lithium ion batteries. Environmental-friendly Fe2 O3 anode has high theoretical specific capacity (1007 mAh g-1 ) in lithium ion batteries, but suffers from structural collapsing and poor electronic conductivity. Hence, we prepared Prussian Blue (PB) materials with different sizes and calcined them at different temperatures. We found that no matter what the size of PB, the sheet-crossing morphology appeared at 650°C, and the interlaced morphology was the key to improve the performance of lithium batteries. If the size of PB precursor is too large or too small, it has adverse effects on lithium batteries. Only when the size and calcination temperature of PB precursor reach the optimum state, the best performance can be obtained. The calcination PB-K-3 at 650°C has a unique hierarchical structure of sheet-crossing. An obvious advantages include the prevention of particle agglomeration, short ionic diffusion lengths, and buffering volume changes. As a consequence, 611 mAh g-1 was obtained at the current density of 500 mA g-1 . In addition, we observed the structural changes of electrode plates at different reaction potentials, according to the reaction equation of Fe2 O3 +xLi+ +xe→Lix Fe2 O3 . With the proceeding charge process, the voltage increases from 0.01 to 3 V, the lithium ions gradually comes out of the iron oxide electrode surface. Whereas the discharging process reverses the aforementioned phenomena. Even if the changing volumes, however, the shape of cubic blocks for the PB-K-3 is preserved at different potentials. Taking these advantages into account, our designed MOFs-derived struture was an effective way to prepare hollow hierarchical structure with enhanced Li storage performacne. Such work is expected to facilitate the design of new electrode structure of lithium batteries.

N-doped carbon coated Ni-Mo sulfide tubular structure decorated with nanobubbles for enhanced sodium storage performance

The electrochemical performances of transition metal sulfides for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) depend on their scrupulous designed nanostructures. In particular, numerous efforts have been devoted to synthesize bubble-like structures that consisted of nano-sized hollow spheres for their engaging features that enhanced electrochemical properties; increased surface areas, shortened diffusion length between active material and electrolyte and reduced stress during the Na-ion insertion and extraction. However, fabricating multicomponent transition metal sulfides with bubble-like structure has scarcely succeeded until now. In this study, we demonstrate the rational design and fabrication of hierarchical tubular structures decorated with nanobubbles, which consist of multicomponent (Mo, Ni) metal sulfides (NB-NiMoS). To achieve this structure, the sulfidation process in an autoclave and subsequent heat-treatment were employed to hydrated NiMoO4 nanorod precursors. By comparing between samples obtained in each step, the transformation mechanism of hydrated NiMoO4 nanorods was examined. In order to further enhance the electrochemical properties, NB-NiMoS was coated with polydopamine followed by carbonization in an inert condition, forming the N-doped carbon layers on the tubes. Benefiting from the rational structure and conductive N-doped carbon layers, carbon-coated NB-NiMoS (NB-NiMoS@C) exhibited excellent electrochemical performances as an anode for SIB. It delivered reversible discharge capacity of 420 mA h g−1 for the 200th cycle at the current density of 0.5 A g−1, and its capacity retention calculated from the second cycle was 84%. Even at a high current density of 10 A g−1, the high and stable discharge capacity of 309 mA h g−1 could be achieved.

Recent nanosheet-based materials for monovalent and multivalent ions storage

Owing to the unique advantages of short solid-state diffusion length for metal ions, outstanding ability to alleviate the huge volume expansion of the electrode during repeated charge/discharge process, considerable large amount of channels for electrolyte access leading promoting fast ion diffusion between electrode, and numerous exposed active sites, nanosheet structures are regarded as the ideal electrode structures for achieving high capacity and ultrafast charge/discharge of energy storage. Herein, this review provides a comprehensive introduction of recent nanosheet-based electrode materials for high performance batteries, like monovalent ion (lithium and sodium) batteries and multivalent ion (magnesium, zinc and aluminum) batteries. Facile and simple strategies of synthesizing electrodes and different mechanisms of energy storage are presented. Furthermore, the challenges and development directions of nanosheet-based materials and rechargeable battery systems are discussed.

Enhancing electron diffusion length in narrow-bandgap perovskites for efficient monolithic perovskite tandem solar cells

Developing multijunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is an attractive route to boost PSC efficiencies to above the single-junction Shockley-Queisser limit. However, commonly used tin-based narrow-bandgap perovskites have shorter carrier diffusion lengths and lower absorption coefficient than lead-based perovskites, limiting the efficiency of perovskite-perovskite tandem solar cells. In this work, we discover that the charge collection efficiency in tin-based PSCs is limited by a short diffusion length of electrons. Adding 0.03 molar percent of cadmium ions into tin-perovskite precursors reduce the background free hole concentration and electron trap density, yielding a long electron diffusion length of 2.72 ± 0.15 µm. It increases the optimized thickness of narrow-bandgap perovskite films to 1000 nm, yielding exceptional stabilized efficiencies of 20.2 and 22.7% for single junction narrow-bandgap PSCs and monolithic perovskite-perovskite tandem cells, respectively. This work provides a promising method to enhance the optoelectronic properties of narrow-bandgap perovskites and unleash the potential of perovskite-perovskite tandem solar cells.

Governing factors for preparation of silver nanoparticles using droplet-based microfluidic device.

Droplet-based microfluidic devices are now more than ever used for the synthesis of nanoparticles with low polydispersity and well-defined properties suitable for various industrial applications. Very small reaction volumes (microlitre to femtolitre) and short diffusion lengths, provide superior mixing efficiency and heat transport. Both play the dominant role in case of ultra-fast chemical reactions triggered upon reactant mixing, e.g. preparation of colloidal silver by reduction of silver salt. The high sensitivity of these systems to process variables makes otherwise more straightforward batch-wise production prone to suffer from inconsistency and poor reproducibility, which has an adverse effect on the reliability of production and further particle utilisation. This work presents a rigorous description of microfluidic droplet formation, reactant mixing, and nanoparticle synthesis using CFD simulations and experimental methods. The reaction mixture inside of droplets was homogenized in less than 40 milliseconds, which has been confirmed by simulations. Silver nanoparticles produced by droplet-based microfluidic chip showed superior to batch-wise preparation in terms of both particle uniformity and polydispersity.

Scalable green synthesis of hierarchically porous carbon microspheres by spray pyrolysis for high-performance supercapacitors

Designing carbon materials with optimized hierarchical pore structures is crucial to realize high-performance electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) with enhanced energy and power densities. Therefore, the development of the suitable synthesis strategies for hierarchically porous carbon (HPC) materials with a higher productivity has attracted significant interest. Here, a facile, economic, scalable, and environmentally friendly method to synthesize hierarchical pore-structured carbon materials by spray pyrolysis without the use of heavy metal salts is presented. A spray solution containing sucrose, NaCl, and H2SO4 is aerosolized by an ultrasonic nebulizer and undergoes pyrolysis to produce NaCl-templated carbon microspheres, followed by an activation step and washing to obtain HPC. Endowed with a specific surface area up to 1704 m2 g−1 and pore volume of 1.81 cm3 g−1, the resulting carbon contains an interconnected micro/mesoporous network, which provides efficient ion transport channels with a short diffusion length and small ionic resistance. Moreover, it exhibits a specific capacitance of 102 F g−1 at a current density of 30 A g−1 with a retention of 92% over 10,000 cycles at 10 A g−1 as an electrode in an organic-electrolyte-based EDLC. In contrast, the sheer microporous carbon does not exhibit EDLC behavior at a high rate. The proposed synthesis technique paves the way for cheap scalable syntheses of carbon materials with desired pore structures by spray pyrolysis, which may inspire further studies for various applications including energy storage, where carbon materials with high specific surface areas and yields are of significance.

Structural Control of Uniform MOF-74 Microcrystals for the Study of Adsorption Kinetics.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is a promising class of sorbent materials for swing adsorption gas separation. However, although sorption kinetics plays a major role in column breakthrough experiments, it is rarely studied with MOF materials. This is largely because the synthesis of uniform yet separation-relevant MOFs is a challenging task. Here, we report a dual-modulation approach for the synthesis of well-defined Mg-MOF-74 hexagonal rods with an extremely uniform size distribution (polydispersity index = 1.02). Through epitaxial growth and wet chemical etching, uniform hollow Ni-MOF-74 with plate-shaped caps were obtained. CO2 adsorption kinetic study shows that hollow Ni-MOF-74 exhibits 54% faster diffusion rate compared to solid Ni-MOF-74 due to a shortened diffusion length, despite their identical CO2 uptake capacity. This has led to a 21% extension of column breakthrough time during CO2/N2 separation under identical conditions.

Near Unity Absorption in Nanocrystal Based Short Wave Infrared Photodetectors Using Guided Mode Resonators

Nanocrystals appear as versatile building blocks for the design of low-cost optoelectronic devices. The design of infrared sensors based on nanocrystals is currently facing a key limitation: the short carrier diffusion length resulting from hopping transport makes that only a limited part of the incident light is absorbed. In order to enhance the device absorption, we use Guided Mode Resonance (GMR). The method appears to be quite versatile and is applied to both PbS and HgTe nanocrystals presenting respectively cut-off wavelengths at 1.7 and 2.6 µm. The designed electrodes present a large enhancement of the material responsivity around a factor of ≈250, reaching external quantum efficiency of 86% for PbS and 340% for HgTe. This increase of the response can be deconvoluted in a factor of 3 for the enhancement of the absorption and a factor of 80 for the photocurrent gain. The method can also be suited to finely tune the cut-off wavelength of the material thanks to geometrical parameters at the device level. The obtained devices are now only limited by the material noise.

Multicrystalline Silicon Thin‐Film Solar Cells Based on Vanadium Oxide Heterojunction and Laser‐Doped Contacts

Liquid phase crystallized (LPC) silicon thin films on glass substrates are a feasible alternative to conventional crystalline silicon (c‐Si) wafers for solar cells. Due to substrate limitation, a low‐temperature technology is needed for solar cell fabrication. While silicon heterojunction is typically used, herein, the combination of vanadium oxide/c‐Si heterojunction as emitter and base contacts defined by IR laser processing of phosphorus‐doped amorphous silicon carbide stacks is explored. LPC solar cells are fabricated using such technologies to identify their issues and advantages with a promising performance of an active‐area efficiency of 5.6%. Apart from the absence of light‐trapping techniques, the relatively low efficiency obtained is attributed to a low lifetime in the LPC silicon bulk. These poor material properties imply a short diffusion length that makes it that only photogenerated carriers in the emitter regions can be collected. Consequently, future devices should show narrower base contact regions, suggesting a shorter‐wavelength laser, combined with longer LPC substrate lifetimes.