| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Focus Topic | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session EN+EM+NS-WeM |
| Session: | Quantum Dot and Nanowire Solar Cells |
| Presenter: | Uwe Kortshagen, University of Minnesota |
| Authors: | U. Kortshagen, University of Minnesota C.Y. Liu, University of Minnesota Z. Holman, University of Minnesota J. Yang, University of Minnesota |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Organic solar cells based on bulk heterojunctions between acceptor and donor semiconductors have attracted significant attention due to their low cost, compatibility with roll-to-roll processing, and relative lack of health and environmental concerns. However, the stability of organic semiconductors under solar irradiation remains to be a challenge. Producing bulk heterojunction solar cells based entirely on inorganic materials thus has become an attractive proposition.
In a first step into this direction, we have produced solar cells from silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) and poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT). Silicon NCs 3–5 nm in diameter were synthesized by dissociating silane gas in a nonthermal radio frequency plasma, and collected on a mesh downstream of the plasma. The silicon-hydride terminated NCs were dispersed with P3HT in 1,2-dichlorobenzene. Films of this blend with thicknesses of 100–200nm were spin-cast onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate pre-coated with 50 nm of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). Metal electrodes (2mm wide, 100 nm thick) were then evaporated on top of the Si NC/P3HT film.
The Si NCs were found to be efficient electron acceptors. The optimal weight ratio of Si NC to P3HT was 50 wt%. The effects of annealing and different metal electrodes on Si NC/P3HT hybrid solar cells were studied. After annealing at 150 °C, Si NC/P3HT solar cells exhibited power conversion efficiencies as high as 1.47%. The hole mobility in the P3HT phase extracted from space-charge-limited current measurements of hole-only devices increased from 2.5x10-10 cm2/V-s to 1.1x10-9 cm2/V-s after annealing, resulting in better transport in the solar cells. A quenching of the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current was observed when high work function metals are deposited as the cathode on Si NC/P3HT hybrid devices.
Devices with silicon-hydride terminated Si NCs were plagued by poor film morphology. Hence we studied functionalizing Si NCs with organic ligands. Functionalization with 1-octene and 1-dodecene led to improved film morphology but the transport in the Si NC network became worse. However, excellent stability with respect to air exposure of these cells was observed. Efforts to improve the dispersability of Si NCs without inhibiting transport in the Si NC network are in progress.
This work was supported primarily by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number DMR-0819885 and by the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics.