Xingtian Yin

Hole selective MoOx contact for silicon solar cells

Using an ultrathin (∼ 15 nm in thickness) molybdenum oxide (MoOx, x < 3) layer as a transparent hole selective contact to n-type silicon, we demonstrate a room-temperature processed oxide/silicon solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 14.3%. While MoOx is commonly considered to be a semiconductor with a band gap of 3.3 eV, from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy we show that MoOx may be considered to behave as a high workfunction metal with a low density of states at the Fermi level originating from the tail of an oxygen vacancy derived defect band located inside the band gap. Specifically, in the absence of carbon contamination, we measure a work function potential of ∼ 6.6 eV, which is significantly higher than that of all elemental metals. Our results on the archetypical semiconductor silicon demonstrate the use of nm-thick transition metal oxides as a simple and versatile pathway for dopant-free contacts to inorganic semiconductors. This work has important implications toward enabling a novel class of junctionless devices with applications for solar cells, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, and transistors.

Highly Efficient Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells Using Solution-Derived NiOx Hole Contacts

A solution-derived NiOx film was employed as the hole contact of a flexible organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cell. The NiOx film, which was spin coated from presynthesized NiOx nanoparticles solution, can extract holes and block electrons efficiently, without any other post-treatments. An optimal power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.47% was demonstrated in the NiOx-based perovskite solar cell on an ITO-glass substrate, which is much higher than that of the perovskite solar cells using high temperature-derived NiOx film contacts. The low-temperature deposition process made the NiOx films suitable for flexible devices. NiOx-based flexible perovskite solar cells were fabricated on ITO-PEN substrates, and a preliminary PCE of 13.43% was achieved.

Silicon heterojunction solar cell with passivated hole selective MoOx contact

We explore substoichiometric molybdenum trioxide (MoOx, x < 3) as a dopant-free, hole-selective contact for silicon solar cells. Using an intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon passivation layer between the oxide and the silicon absorber, we demonstrate a high open-circuit voltage of 711 mV and power conversion efficiency of 18.8%. Due to the wide band gap of MoOx, we observe a substantial gain in photocurrent of 1.9 mA/cm2 in the ultraviolet and visible part of the solar spectrum, when compared to a p-type amorphous silicon emitter of a traditional silicon heterojunction cell. Our results emphasize the strong potential for oxides as carrier selective heterojunction partners to inorganic semiconductors.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange over Nitrogen–Fluorine Codoped TiO2 Nanobelts Prepared by Solvothermal Synthesis

Anatase type nitrogen-fluorine (N-F) codoped TiO(2) nanobelts were prepared by a solvothermal method in which amorphous titania microspheres were used as the precursors. The as-prepared TiO(2) nanobelts are composed of thin narrow nanobelts and it is noted that there are large amount of wormhole-like mesopores on these narrow nanobelts. Photocatalytic activity of the N-F codoped TiO(2) nanobelts was measured by the reaction of photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. Results indicate that the photocatalytic activity of the N-F codoped TiO(2) nanobelts is higher than that of P25, which is mainly ascribed to wormhole-like mesopores like prison, larger surface area, and enhanced absorption of light due to N-F codoping. Interestingly, it is also found that the photocatalytic activity can be further enhanced when tested in a new testing method because more photons can be captured by the nanobelts to stimulate the formation of the hole-electron pair.

High efficiency hysteresis-less inverted planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells with a solution-derived NiOx hole contact layer

A hysteresis-less inverted planar heterojunction perovskite solar cell with 14.42% power conversion efficiency (PCE) was successfully fabricated by employing a solution-derived NiOx film as the hole selective contact. Here, the non-stoichiometric transparent NiOx film is composed of a lot of small NiOx nanocrystals with a cubic crystal structure. Inverted planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells based on the as-prepared NiOx hole selective contacts show a much higher PCE and air storage stability than the control device fabricated from the PEDOT:PSS film as the hole selective contact, since NiOx has a better electron blocking property due to its high conduction band edge position. The thickness of the NiOx contact strongly influences the performance of the NiOx-based perovskite solar cells, which include the PCE, hysteresis behaviors and air storage stability due to the thickness-dependent morphology of the NiOx contact.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Microspheres via Hybridization with CuInSe2 and CuInS2 Nanocrystals

ZnO microspheres sensitized by CuInSe(2) and CuInS(2) nanoparticles, which were synthesized by a solvothermal method and have a size about 20 and 3.5 nm, respectively, were used to a photodegradation of rhodamine B under an irradiation of mercury lamp. Results show that the photocatalytic activities of the ZnO/CuInSe(2) and the ZnO/CuInS(2) are much higher than that of the ZnO microspheres because of a formation of the heterojunction in two systems. It is also noted that the ZnO/CuInS(2) exhibits a higher photocatalytic activity than the ZnO/CuInSe(2), which is probably related to more suitable band gap to sunlight for CuInS(2) nanocrystals and the larger specific surface due to a small size. Particularly, the ZnO/CuInSe(2)/CuInS(2) shows the highest photocatalytic activities in all measured photocatalysts, which should be attributed to the formation of double heterojunctions among ZnO, CuInSe(2), and CuInS(2).

19.2% Efficient InP Heterojunction Solar Cell with Electron-Selective TiO2 Contact

We demonstrate an InP heterojunction solar cell employing an ultrathin layer (∼10 nm) of amorphous TiO2 deposited at 120 °C by atomic layer deposition as the transparent electron-selective contact. The TiO2 film selectively extracts minority electrons from the conduction band of p-type InP while blocking the majority holes due to the large valence band offset, enabling a high maximum open-circuit voltage of 785 mV. A hydrogen plasma treatment of the InP surface drastically improves the long-wavelength response of the device, resulting in a high short-circuit current density of 30.5 mA/cm2 and a high power conversion efficiency of 19.2%.

Facile synthesis of ZnO/CuInS2 nanorod arrays for photocatalytic pollutants degradation.

Vertically-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays on a fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrate were homogeneously coated with visible light active CuInS2 quantum dots by using a controllable electrophoretic deposition strategy. Compared with the pure ZnO nanorod arrays, the formation of high-quality ZnO/CuInS2 heterojunction with well-matched band energy alignment expanded the light absorption from ultraviolet to visible region and facilitated efficient charge separation and transportation, thus yielding remarkable enhanced photoelectrochemical performance and photocatalytic activities for methyl orange and 4-chlorophenol degradation. The ZnO/CuInS2 film with the deposition duration of 80min showed the highest degradation rate and photocurrent density (0.95mA/cm(2)), which was almost 6.33 times higher than that of the pure ZnO nanorod arrays film. The CuInS2 QDs sensitized ZnO nanorod arrays film was proved to be a superior structure for photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic applications due to the optimized CuInS2 loading and well-maintained one-dimensional nanostructure.

ZnO/CdS/CdSe core/double shell nanorod arrays derived by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction process for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

Well-aligned one-dimensional ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on transparent conducting glass, and CdS and CdSe quantum dot thin films were then deposited on the nanorod arrays in turn by an effective successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction process to form a ZnO/CdS/CdSe core/double-shell structure electrode. As revealed by the images of filed-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, the CdS and CdSe quantum dot thin films were uniformly deposited on the ZnO nanorods and the thickness of the CdS and CdSe shell can be controlled by varying the number of the adsorption and reaction cycles. For a typical sample that was prepared by a 10 times adsorption and reaction cycle, the thickness of the CdS and CdSe shell was about 4.0 and 5.5 nm, respectively. A short circuit density of 12.1 mA cm−2 and a power conversion efficiency of 1.72% were obtained for the solar cell based on the optimal ZnO/CdS/CdSe core–shell nanorod array electrode under the illumination of one sun (AM1.5, 100 mW cm−2).

TiO2 passivation for improved efficiency and stability of ZnO nanorods based perovskite solar cells

Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been demonstrated to be a superb electron selective contact material in photovoltaic devices for its high electron mobility and various accessible nanostructures. However, issues of severe charge recombination and thermal instability occurring at the perovskites/ZnO interface hinder its application on perovskite solar cells. Herein, we report a strategy of TiO2 passivation onto the surface of ZnO nanorods (NRs) using a wet-chemical method, where a device structure FTO/ZnO NRs/TiO2 passivation layer/CH3NH3PbI3/spiro-OMeTAD/Ag is adopted. Based on the proposed strategy, an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.49% is achieved mainly due to the improved open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.02 V, shirt-circuit current density (Jsc) of 20.69 mA cm−2, and fill factor (FF) of 0.64, which are much higher than those of bare ZnO NRs-based devices. Interestingly, TiO2 passivated samples show much better long-term device stability than those without passivation, where TiO2 acts as a buffer layer with improved thermal stability owning to reduced chemisorbed hydroxyl groups as indicated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.