Jianxin Guo

Magnesium thin film as a doping-free back surface field layer for hybrid solar cells

In this work, a magnesium (Mg) thin film with a low work function is introduced to obtain a downward energy band at the rear surface of a hybrid solar cell to achieve the function of a back surface field (BSF) similar to the conventional n-n+ high-low junction, i.e., favouring the majority carrier transport and suppressing minority carrier recombination. The open circuit voltages (Voc) of the hybrid solar cells with the Mg BSF layer achieve a clear improvement over those containing only the conventional metal electrode (e.g., Ag), resulting in an increase in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the hybrid solar cells from 9.2% to 12.3%. The Suns-Voc measurement determined using a Sinton tool gives Voc as a function of light intensity and shows that Voc increases linearly with the light intensity for the solar cell with the Mg BSF but increases first and then stabilises for the cells without the Mg BSF. This result is attributed to a difference in back surface recombination, further confirming the effi...

Silicon surface passivation by polystyrenesulfonate thin films

The use of polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) thin films in a high-quality passivation scheme involving the suppression of minority carrier recombination at the silicon surface is presented. PSS has been used as a dispersant for aqueous poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene. In this work, PSS is coated as a form of thin film on a Si surface. A millisecond level minority carrier lifetime on a high resistivity Si wafer is obtained. The film thickness, oxygen content, and relative humidity are found to be important factors affecting the passivation quality. While applied to low resistivity silicon wafers, which are widely used for photovoltaic cell fabrication, this scheme yields relatively shorter lifetime, for example, 2.40 ms on n-type and 2.05 ms on p-type wafers with a resistivity of 1–5 Ω·cm. However, these lifetimes are still high enough to obtain high implied open circuit voltages (Voc) of 708 mV and 697 mV for n-type and p-type wafers, respectively. The formation of oxides at the PSS/Si interface is suggested to ...

ADSORPTION AND DISSOCIATION OF O2 ON Ti3Al (0001) STUDIED BY FIRST-PRINCIPLES

The adsorption and dissociation of oxygen molecule on Ti3Al (0001) surface have been investigated by density functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). All possible adsorption sites including nine vertical and fifteen parallel sites of O2 are considered on Ti3Al (0001) surface. It is found that all oxygen molecules dissociate except for three vertical adsorption sites after structure optimization. This indicates that oxygen molecules prefer to dissociate on the junction site between Ti and Al atoms. Oxygen atoms coming from dissociation of oxygen molecule tend to occupy the most stable adsorption sites of the Ti3Al (0001) surface. The distance of O–O is related to the surface dissociation distance of Ti3Al (0001) surface. The valence electron localization function (ELF) and projected density of states (DOS) show that the bonds of O–O are breakaway at parallel adsorption end structures.

On the light-induced enhancement in photovoltaic performance of PEDOT:PSS/Si organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells

Light-induced degradation has been identified to be a critical issue for most silicon-based solar cell technologies. This study presents an observation of an opposite light-induced enhancement (LIE) effect in photovoltaic performance in poly(3,4-ethylthiophene):polystyrenesulfonate/n-Si organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells. The reduced density of interface states under light soaking (LS) is found to be responsible for the LIE of the hybrid solar cells. An increased minor carrier lifetime under LS and a switchable photoluminescence intensity while applying a voltage bias are observed, providing evidence for the underlying physical mechanism.

Switching properties of SrRuO3/Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3/SrRuO3 capacitor grown on Cu-coated Si substrate measured at various temperatures

SrRuO3(SRO)/Ni-Al/Cu/Ni-Al/SiO2/Si heterostructures annealed at various temperatures are found to remain intact after annealing. Moreover, a SRO/Pb(Zr0.4Ti0.6)O3 (PZT)/SRO capacitor is grown on a Ni-Al/Cu/Ni-Al/SiO2/Si heterostructure, which is tested up to to investigate the reliability of the memory capacitor. It is found that besides the good fatigue resistance and retention characteristic, the capacitor, measured at 5 V and room temperature, possesses a large remnant polarization of and a small coercive voltage of 0.83 V, respectively. Its dominant leakage current behavior satisfies the space-charge?limited conduction at various temperatures. Very clear interfaces can be observed from the cross-sectional images of transmission electron microscopy, indicating that the Ni-Al film can be used as a diffusion barrier layer for copper metallization as well as a conducting barrier layer between copper and oxide layer.

CALCULATIONS OF HYDROGEN DIFFUSION IN THE Ti(0001)–(1 × 1) SURFACE BY FIRST PRINCIPLES

Diffusion of H atom in the Ti(0001) outer-layer and inter-layer surface is studied using density functional theory based on generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The energy barriers for the hydrogen atom diffusion in different interstitial sites at the same layers or between adjacent layers are calculated. It is found that the energy barriers of H atom diffusion in the adjacent interstitial layers are bigger than that in the same interstitial layers. For the diffusion of H atom between adjacent interstitial layers, the diffusion between tetrahedral sites is easier than that between octahedral sites. While for diffusion of H atom between the same interstitial layers, the diffusion between tetrahedral sites is easier than that between tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Moreover, it is found that the most possible inside diffusion from hcp site of a hydrogen atom in the Ti(0001) outer-layer goes through tetrahedral sites.

Achievement of two logical states through a polymer/silicon interface for organic-inorganic hybrid memory

A hysteresis loop of minority carrier lifetime vs voltage is found in polystyrenesulfonate (PSS)/Si organic-inorganic hybrid heterojunctions, implying an interfacial memory effect. Capacitance-voltage and conductance-voltage hysteresis loops are observed and reveal a memory window. A switchable interface state, which can be controlled by charge transfer based on an electrochemical oxidation/deoxidation process, is suggested to be responsible for this hysteresis effect. We perform first-principle total-energy calculations on the influence of external electric fields and electrons or holes, which are injected into interface states on the adsorption energy of PSS on Si. It is demonstrated that the dependence of the interface adsorption energy difference on the electric field is the origin of this two-state switching. These results offer a concept of organic-inorganic hybrid interface memory being optically or electrically readable, low-cost, and compatible with the flexible organic electronics.

IMPACTS OF ANNEAL TEMPERATURE ON THE STRUCTURAL, MAGNETIC AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE Fe:LaSrFeO4 COMPOSITE FILM

We prepared the pulsed laser deposited Fe:LaSrFeO4 (LSFO) composite films on quartz substrates by decomposing the La0.5Sr0.5FeO3 target at room temperature in a high vacuum. Impacts of anneal temperature on the structural and physical properties have been investigated, and the systematic changes were found in structural, magnetic and optical absorption properties upon annealing. The LSFO (110) spacing decreases with the increase of annealing temperature, which can be attributed to the release of intrinsic strain; and there is an increase in spacing for the 750∘C annealed sample, which is ascribed to the oxygen loss in LSFO films.