Sang-Won Jee

A strong antireflective solar cell prepared by tapering silicon nanowires

Vertically aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were cost-effectively formed on a four-inch silicon wafer using a simple room temperature approach, i.e., metal-assisted electroless etching. Tapering the NWs by post-KOH dipping achieved separation of each NW from the bunched NW, resulting in a strong enhancement of broadband optical absorption. As electroless etching time increases, the optical crossover feature was observed in the tradeoff between enhanced light trapping (by graded-refractive index during initial tapering) and deteriorated reflectance (by decreasing the areal density of NWs during later tapering). Compared to the bunched SiNWs, tapered NW solar cells demonstrated superior photovoltaic characteristics, such as a short circuit current of 17.67 mA/cm² and a cell conversion efficiency of ~6.56% under 1.5 AM illumination.

A waferscale Si wire solar cell using radial and bulk p-n junctions.

Silicon nanowires (NWs) and microwires (MWs) are cost-effectively integrated on a 4-inch wafer using metal-assisted electroless etching for solar cell applications. MWs are periodically positioned using low-level optical patterning in between a dense array of NWs. A spin-on-doping technique is found to be effective for the formation of heavily doped, thin n-type shells of MWs in which the radial doping profile is easily delineated by low voltage scanning electron microscopy. Controlled tapering of the NWs results in additional optical enhancement via optimization of the tradeoff between increased light trapping (by a graded-refractive-index) and increased reflectance (by decreasing areal density of NWs). Compared to single NW (or MW) arrayed cells, the co-integrated solar cells demonstrate improved photovoltaic characteristics, i.e. a short circuit current of 20.59 mA cm(-2) and a cell conversion efficiency of ∼ 7.19% at AM 1.5G illumination.

Highly selective spectral response with enhanced responsivity of n-ZnO/p-Si radial heterojunction nanowire photodiodes

A radial heterojunction nanowire diode (RND) array consisting of a ZnO (shell)/Si (core) structure was fabricated using conformal coating of a n-type ZnO layer that surrounded a p-type Si nanowire. In both ultraviolet (UV) and visible ranges, the photoresponsivity of the RND was larger than that of a planar thin film diode (PD) owing to the efficient carrier collection with improved light absorption. Compared to a PD, in the forward bias, a 6 μm long RND resulted in a ∼2.7 times enhancement of the UV responsivity at λ=365 nm, which could be explained based on the oxygen-related hole-trap mechanism. Under a reverse bias, UV-blind visible detection was observed while the UV response was suppressed.

Highly Electrocatalytic Cu2ZnSn(S1–xSex)4 Counter Electrodes for Quantum-Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells

Traditional Pt counter electrode in quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells suffers from a low electrocatalytic activity and instability due to irreversible surface adsorption of sulfur species incurred while regenerating polysulfide (S(n)(2-)/S(2-)) electrolytes. To overcome such constraints, chemically synthesized Cu(2)ZnSn(S(1-x)Se(x))(4) nanocrystals were evaluated as an alternative to Pt. The resulting chalcogenides exhibited remarkable electrocatalytic activities for reduction of polysulfide (S(n)(2-)) to sulfide (S(2-)), which were dictated by the ratios of S/Se. In this study, a quantum dot sensitized solar cell constructed with Cu(2)ZnSn(S(0.5)Se(0.5))(4) as a counter electrode showed the highest energy conversion efficiency of 3.01%, which was even higher than that using Pt (1.24%). The compositional variations in between Cu(2)ZnSnS(4) (x = 0) and Cu(2)ZnSnSe(4) (x = 1) revealed that the solar cell performances were closely related to a difference in electrocatalytic activities for polysulfide reduction governed by the S/Se ratios.

Lossless hybridization between photovoltaic and thermoelectric devices

The optimal hybridization of photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric (TE) devices has long been considered ideal for the efficient harnessing solar energy. Our hybrid approach uses full spectrum solar energy via lossless coupling between PV and TE devices while collecting waste energy from thermalization and transmission losses from PV devices. Achieving lossless coupling makes the power output from the hybrid device equal to the sum of the maximum power outputs produced separately from individual PV and TE devices. TE devices need to have low internal resistances enough to convey photo-generated currents without sacrificing the PV fill factor. Concomitantly, a large number of p-n legs are preferred to drive a high Seebeck voltage in TE. Our simple method of attaching a TE device to a PV device has greatly improved the conversion efficiency and power output of the PV device (~30% at a 15°C temperature gradient across a TE device).

A stamped PEDOT:PSS-silicon nanowire hybrid solar cell.

A novel stamped hybrid solar cell was proposed using the stamping transfer technique by stamping an active PEDOT:PSS thin layer onto the top of silicon nanowires (SiNWs). Compared to a bulk-type counterpart that fully embeds SiNWs inside PEDOT:PSS, an increase in the photovoltaic efficiency was observed by a factor of ∼4.6, along with improvements in both electrical and optical responses for the stamped hybrid cell. Such improvements for hybrid cells was due to the formation of well-connected and linearly aligned active PEDOT:PSS channels at the top ends of the nanowires after the stamping process. These stamped channels facilitated not only to improve the charge transport, light absorption, but also to decrease the free carriers as well as exciton recombination losses for stamped hybrid solar cells.

Enhanced absorptive characteristics of metal nanoparticle-coated silicon nanowires for solar cell applications

The optical properties of metal nanoparticle (NP)-coated silicon nanowires (Si NWs) are theoretically investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics commercial software. A geometrical array of periodic Si NWs coated with metal NPs is proposed. The simulation demonstrates that light absorption could be enhanced significantly in a long wavelength region of the solar spectrum, based upon the localized surface plasmons generated around metal NPs. Various metal NPs, such as Au, Ag, and Al, are all found to increase their light absorption while in contact with Si NWs, in which the Au NPs show the best result in light enhancement. This theoretical work might prove useful in providing a fundamental understanding toward improving further the efficiency of Si wired solar cells.

Silicon Nanowire Array Solar Cell Prepared by Metal-Induced Electroless Etching with a Novel Processing Technology

We inexpensively fabricated vertically aligned Si nanowire solar cells using metal-induced electroless etching and a novel doping technique. Co-doping of boron and phosphorus was achieved using a spin-on-doping method for the simultaneous formation of a front-side emitter and a back surface field in a one-step thermal cycle. Nickel electroless deposition was also performed in order to form a continuous metal grid electrode on top of an array of vertically aligned Si nanowires. A highly dense array of Si nanowires with low reflectivity was obtained using Ag nanoparticles of optimal size (60–90 nm). We also obtained an open circuit voltage of 544 mV, a short circuit current of 14.68 mA/cm2, and a cell conversion efficiency of 5.25% at 1.5AM illumination. The improved photovoltaic performance was believed to be the result of the excellent optical absorption of the Si nanowires and the improved electrical properties of the electroless deposited electrode.

Effective method to extract optical bandgaps in Si nanowire arrays

A simple method to extract the optical bandgap of Si nanowire (SiNW) arrays that utilizes the reflection spectra of freestanding SiNW arrays is presented in this Letter. At a fixed nanowire diameter, three different wire lengths reproducibly formed a cross point in their reflectance curve plots. The cross point wavelength corresponded to the optical bandgap, as verified by the classical Taucs model. The optical bandgap of the SiNW arrays (112 nm in average diameter) was measured to be ~1.19 eV, which is larger than the ~1.08 eV bandgap of bulk Si. Further decreasing the wire diameter to 68 nm caused an increase of the bandgap to ~1.24 eV, which is closer to the optimal bandgap (~1.40 eV) required to achieve the highest conversion efficiency in single-junction photovoltaic devices. Our method suggests that the multijunction tandem structure can be realized via control of the diameter of SiNW arrays.

Photoelectrochemical water splitting employing a tapered silicon nanohole array

An effective photocathode adopting a tapered Si nanohole (SiNH) array has been developed for photoelectrochemical water splitting. The tapered feature of SiNH photocathodes resulted in a gradation of the refractive indices between Si and air, such that the mismatching of optical impedance was alleviated and light absorption was enhanced. Adjusting the depth of the SiNHs successfully simulated the number of dielectric layers, optimizing the destructive interference for an antireflective coating (ARC). Only a 200 nm-thin NH array was required to absorb ∼96% of solar spectral irradiance for photoelectrochemical applications. This thickness also minimized the undesirable surface recombination loss. When compared to a similar system using a planar technology, the formation of NHs was observed to cause an increase in the optical bandgap. This could generate a surface-passivation effect, resulting in a lowering of dark current and an increase in photovoltage, which could be utilized for an anodic shift of the onset voltage. Due to the addition of tapered SiNHs, the photogenerated current was improved by ∼30% (∼33 mA cm−2) compared to a planar counterpart (∼25 mA cm−2), while the overpotential required for H2 evolution was reduced.