TY - JOUR
T1 - Advanced interface modelling of n-Si/HNO3 doped graphene solar cells to identify pathways to high efficiency
AU - Zhao, Jing
AU - Ma, Fa-Jun
AU - Ding, Ke
AU - Zhang, Hao
AU - Jie, Jiansheng
AU - Ho-Baillie, Anita
AU - Bremner, Stephen P.
PY - 2018/3/15
Y1 - 2018/3/15
N2 - In graphene/silicon solar
cells, it is crucial to understand the transport mechanism of the
graphene/silicon interface to further improve power conversion
efficiency. Until now, the transport mechanism has been predominantly
simplified as an ideal Schottky junction. However, such an ideal
Schottky contact is never realised experimentally. According to
literature, doped graphene
shows the properties of a semiconductor, therefore, it is physically
more accurate to model graphene/silicon junction as a Heterojunction. In
this work, HNO3-doped
graphene/silicon solar cells were fabricated with the power conversion
efficiency of 9.45%. Extensive characterization and first-principles
calculations were carried out to establish an advanced technology
computer-aided design (TCAD) model, where p-doped graphene forms a straddling heterojunction
with the n-type silicon. In comparison with the simple Schottky
junction models, our TCAD model paves the way for thorough investigation
on the sensitivity of solar cell
performance to graphene properties like electron affinity. According to
the TCAD heterojunction model, the cell performance can be improved up
to 22.5% after optimizations of the antireflection coatings
and the rear structure, highlighting the great potentials for
fabricating high efficiency graphene/silicon solar cells and other
optoelectronic devices.
AB - In graphene/silicon solar
cells, it is crucial to understand the transport mechanism of the
graphene/silicon interface to further improve power conversion
efficiency. Until now, the transport mechanism has been predominantly
simplified as an ideal Schottky junction. However, such an ideal
Schottky contact is never realised experimentally. According to
literature, doped graphene
shows the properties of a semiconductor, therefore, it is physically
more accurate to model graphene/silicon junction as a Heterojunction. In
this work, HNO3-doped
graphene/silicon solar cells were fabricated with the power conversion
efficiency of 9.45%. Extensive characterization and first-principles
calculations were carried out to establish an advanced technology
computer-aided design (TCAD) model, where p-doped graphene forms a straddling heterojunction
with the n-type silicon. In comparison with the simple Schottky
junction models, our TCAD model paves the way for thorough investigation
on the sensitivity of solar cell
performance to graphene properties like electron affinity. According to
the TCAD heterojunction model, the cell performance can be improved up
to 22.5% after optimizations of the antireflection coatings
and the rear structure, highlighting the great potentials for
fabricating high efficiency graphene/silicon solar cells and other
optoelectronic devices.
KW - Doped graphene
KW - Solar cell
KW - Heterojunction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032281543&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.10.163
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.10.163
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032281543
VL - 434
SP - 102
EP - 111
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
SN - 0169-4332
ER -