Well-aligned single-crystalline silicon nanowire hybrid solar cells on glass

Abstract Hybrid solar cells are fabricated on the glass substrate using well-aligned single-crystalline Si nanowires (SiNWs) and poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM). Their key benefits are discussed. The well-aligned SiNWs are fabricated from Si wafer and transferred onto the glass substrate with the P3HT:PCBM. Such SiNWs provide uninterrupted conduction paths for electron transport, enhance the optical absorption to serve as an interesting candidate of the absorber, and increase the surface area for exciton dissociation. Our investigations show that SiNWs are promising for hybrid organic photovoltaic cells with improved performance by increasing the short-circuit current density from 7.17 to 11.61 mA/cm 2 .

[1]  S. Li,et al.  The dopant density and temperature dependence of electron mobility and resistivity in n-type silicon , 1977 .

[2]  F. Krebs,et al.  Bulk Heterojunctions Based on Native Polythiophene , 2008 .

[3]  F. Krebs.  Air stable polymer photovoltaics based on a process free from vacuum steps and fullerenes , 2008 .

[4]  E. W. Meijer,et al.  Two-dimensional charge transport in self-organized, high-mobility conjugated polymers , 1999, Nature.

[5]  Donghwan Kim,et al.  Well-aligned CdS nanorod/conjugated polymer solar cells , 2006 .

[6]  F. Krebs,et al.  Analysis of the failure mechanism for a stable organic photovoltaic during 10 000 h of testing , 2007 .

[7]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  Out-door testing and long-term stability of plastic solar cells , 2006 .

[8]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  Significant Improvement of Polymer Solar Cell Stability , 2005 .

[9]  I. Samuel,et al.  Exciton Diffusion Measurements in Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) , 2008 .

[10]  Ching-Fuh Lin,et al.  Use of SiO2 nanoparticles as etch mask to generate Si nanorods by reactive ion etch , 2006 .

[11]  P. Chu,et al.  From Si nanotubes to nanowires : Synthesis, characterization, and self-assembly , 2005 .

[12]  Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci,et al.  Hybrid solar cells , 2008 .

[13]  J. Fréchet,et al.  Polymer-fullerene composite solar cells. , 2008, Angewandte Chemie.

[14]  Xiaoniu Yang,et al.  Nanoscale morphology of high-performance polymer solar cells. , 2005, Nano letters.

[15]  Yunjie Yan,et al.  Dendrite‐Assisted Growth of Silicon Nanowires in Electroless Metal Deposition , 2003 .

[16]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Flexible organic P3HT:PCBM bulk-heterojunction modules with more than 1 year outdoor lifetime , 2008 .

[17]  Nathan S. Lewis,et al.  Growth of vertically aligned Si wire arrays over large areas (>1 cm^2) with Au and Cu catalysts , 2007 .

[18]  A. Jayatissa.  LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Preparation of gallium-doped ZnO films by oxidized ZnS films , 2003 .

[19]  F. Krebs,et al.  Low band gap polymers for organic photovoltaics , 2007 .

[20]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  A brief history of the development of organic and polymeric photovoltaics , 2004 .

[21]  Yunjie Yan,et al.  Synthesis of Large‐Area Silicon Nanowire Arrays via Self‐Assembling Nanoelectrochemistry , 2002 .

[22]  A. Alivisatos,et al.  Hybrid Nanorod-Polymer Solar Cells , 2002, Science.

[23]  Margit Zacharias,et al.  Semiconductor nanowires: from self-organization to patterned growth. , 2006, Small.

[24]  N. S. Sariciftci,et al.  Conjugated polymer-based organic solar cells. , 2007, Chemical reviews.

[25]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  Degradation and stability of polymer and organic solar cells , 2008 .

[26]  F. Krebs,et al.  Stability/degradation of polymer solar cells , 2008 .

[27]  Charles M. Lieber,et al.  A laser ablation method for the synthesis of crystalline semiconductor nanowires , 1998, Science.

[28]  Tong Wang,et al.  Photoinduced charge transfer between poly(3-hexylthiophene) and germanium nanowires , 2007 .

[29]  Michael D. McGehee,et al.  Ordered Organic-Inorganic Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Cells , 2005 .

[30]  Jean M. J. Fréchet,et al.  Polymer—Fullerene Composite Solar Cells. , 2008 .