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Enhanced Efficiency of Graphene-Silicon Schottky Junction Solar Cell through Pyramid Arrays Texturation

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Abstract

Graphene/silicon (Gr/Si) Schottky junction solar cells have attracted extensive research interest due to their simple structure and potential low-cost. Surface texturing is an important part of high-efficiency solar cells. In this paper, the effects of TMAH concentration, IPA concentration and etching time on the structure and anti-reflection ability of silicon pyramid array (SiPa) were systematically studied to obtain uniform and reliable pyramid array. Under the optimized conditions, a large scale SiPa with uniform size distribution was obtained and applied to Gr/Si solar cells. The results show that the TMAH etched SiPa has a better Schottky junction contact between graphene and the SiPa surface, and the SiPa can further improves the ability of collecting photogenerated carriers. Compared with Gr/Si solar cells, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Gr/SiPa device is 1.66 times higher than that of Gr/Si solar cells. Finally, Gr/SiPa devices with PCE of 5.67% is successfully obtained by HNO3 doping. This work proposes a new strategy for TMAH etching SiPa to improve the performance of Gr/Si solar cells.

Highlights

The effects of TMAH concentration, IPA concentration and etching time on silicon pyramid structure were studied.

Uniform silicon pyramid arrays with low reflectivity were prepared.

The results show that the TMAH etched SiPa has a better Schottky junction contact between graphene and the SiPa surface.

The PCE of Gr/SiPa solar cells could reach up to 5.67%.

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Data Availability

The authors declare that the data and materials for this work are available.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support of this work from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51974143, 51904134, 61764009, 51762043); National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1901801, No. 2018YFC1901805); Major Science and Technology Projects in Yunnan Province (No. 2019ZE007, No. 202103AA080004, No. 202102AB080016); Key Project of Yunnan Province Natural Science Fund (No. 2018FA027); Yunnan Ten Thousand Talents Project (YNWR-QNBJ-2018-111) and the Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Ministry of Education of China (No. IRT_17R48).

Funding

Financial support of this work from the National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant No. 51974143,Shaoyuan Li,51904134,Shaoyuan Li,61764009,Shaoyuan Li,51762043,Shaoyuan Li,National Key R&D Program of China,No. 2018YFC1901801,Shaoyuan Li,No. 2018YFC1901805,Shaoyuan Li,Major Science and Technology Projects in Yunnan Province,No. 2019ZE007,Ma Wenhui,No. 202103AA080004,Ma Wenhui,No. 202102AB080016,Ma Wenhui,Key Project of Yunnan Province Natural Science Fund,No. 2018FA027,Shaoyuan Li,Yunnan Ten Thousand Talents Project,YNWR-QNBJ-2018–111,Shaoyuan Li,the Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Ministry of Education of China,No. IRT_17R48,Shaoyuan Li

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Cheng Li, Xiyao Zhang, Fengshuo Xi, Shaoyuan Li & Wenhui Ma

  2. School of Materials and Energy, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Yichen Ma & Xiuhua Chen

  3. Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    Shaoyuan Li & Yuanchih Chang

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  1. Cheng Li
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  2. Yichen Ma
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  3. Xiyao Zhang
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  4. Xiuhua Chen
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  5. Fengshuo Xi
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  6. Shaoyuan Li
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Contributions

Cheng Li: Data curation, Writing—original draft. Yichen Ma: Conceptualization. Xiyao Zhang: Software. Xiuhua Chen: Funding acquisition, Visualization, Investigation. Fengshuo Xi: Supervision, Writing -review & editing. Shaoyuan Li: Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing -review & editing. Wenhui Ma: Funding acquisition, Supervision. Yuanchih Chang: Writing—review & editing.

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Correspondence to Fengshuo Xi or Shaoyuan Li.

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Li, C., Ma, Y., Zhang, X. et al. Enhanced Efficiency of Graphene-Silicon Schottky Junction Solar Cell through Pyramid Arrays Texturation. Silicon 14, 8765–8775 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01579-2

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