High Performance Organic-Nanostructured Silicon Hybrid Solar Cell with Modified Surface Structure

Abstract

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with excellent light trapping properties have been widely applied in photovoltaic devices, which provide opportunities for boosting the photons harvested by Si. However, the photoexcited carriers are easily trapped and recombined by high-density surface defects due to higher surface area prolonging to depth of nanowire. In this work, in order to reduce the surface defects and recombination rate of SiNWs, a simple solution process is used to modify the surface structure. Applying the tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) treatment leads to smooth and taper Si NW surface, which improves the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) obviously. Thus, a champion PCE of 14.08% is achieved for the nanostructured Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid device by 60-s TMAH treatment. It also indicates that TMAH treatment promises a simple and effective method for enhancing Si NW-based devices.