Superior performance of V2O5 as hole selective contact over other transition metal oxides in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) have recently been proved to efficiently serve as hole-selective contacts in crystalline silicon (c-Si) heterojunction solar cells. In the present work, two TMO/c-Si heterojunctions are explored using MoO3 (reference) and V2O5 as an alternative candidate. It has been f...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Almora, Osbel, Gerling Sarabia, Luis Guillermo, Voz Sánchez, Cristóbal|||0000-0002-0320-9606, Alcubilla González, Ramón|||0000-0003-4827-4513, Puigdollers i González, Joaquim|||0000-0002-1834-2565, Garcia-Belmonte, Germà
Format: article
Publication Date:2017
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repository:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/104004
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/104004
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2017.04.042
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Solar cells
Metallic oxides
Metal oxide semiconductors
Transition metal oxides
Silicon solar cells
Impedance spectroscopy
Passivation
Minority carrier lifetime
Cèl·lules solars
Òxids metàl·lics
Metalls de transició
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Energies::Energia solar fotovoltaica::Cèl·lules solars
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica::Microelectrònica
Description
Summary:Transition metal oxides (TMOs) have recently been proved to efficiently serve as hole-selective contacts in crystalline silicon (c-Si) heterojunction solar cells. In the present work, two TMO/c-Si heterojunctions are explored using MoO3 (reference) and V2O5 as an alternative candidate. It has been found that V2O5 devices present larger (16% improvement) power conversion efficiency mainly due to their higher open-circuit voltage. While V2O5/c-Si devices with textured front surfaces exhibit larger short-circuit currents, it is also observed that flat solar cell architectures allow for passivation of the V2O5/n-Si interface, giving significant carrier lifetimes of 200 µs (equivalent to a surface recombination velocity of Seff ~140 cm s-1) as derived from impedance analysis. As a consequence, a significant open-circuit voltage of 662 mV is achieved. It is found that, at the TMO/c-Si contact, a TMO work function enhancement ¿FTMO occurs during the heterojunction formation with the consequent dipole layer enlargement ¿’=¿+¿FTMO. Our results provide new insights into the TMO/c-Si contact energetics, carrier transport across the interface and surface recombination allowing for further understanding of the nature of TMO/c-Si heterojunctions.