CuI as a Hole-Selective Contact for GaAs Solar CellsClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!
- Tuomas Haggren*Tuomas Haggren*Email: [email protected]ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Tuomas Haggren
- Vidur RajVidur RajARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Vidur Raj
- Anne HaggrenAnne HaggrenSchool of Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Anne Haggren
- Nikita GagraniNikita GagraniARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Nikita Gagrani
- Chennupati JagadishChennupati JagadishARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Chennupati Jagadish
- Hoe Tan*Hoe Tan*Email: [email protected]ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory2601, AustraliaMore by Hoe Tan
Abstract
Carrier-selective contacts have emerged as a promising architecture for solar cell fabrication. In this report, the first hole-selective III–V semiconductor solar cell is demonstrated using copper iodide (CuI) on i-GaAs. Surface passivation quality of GaAs is found to be essential for open-circuit voltage (VOC), with good correlation between photoluminescence properties of the GaAs layer and the VOC. Passivation with <10 nm thick In0.49Ga0.51P layers is shown to provide an over 300 mV improvement. Oxygen-rich CuI is formed by natural oxidation in the atmosphere, and the increased oxygen content of ∼10% is validated by energy-dispersive X-ray measurements. The oxygen incorporation is shown to improve hole selectivity and thus solar conversion efficiency. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy indicates a high work function of ∼6 eV for the oxygen-rich CuI. With optimized GaAs surface passivation and oxygen-rich CuI, a VOC of nearly 1 V and a solar conversion efficiency of 13.4% are achieved. The solar cell structure includes only undoped GaAs, a surface passivation layer, and non-epitaxial CuI contact and is therefore very promising to various low-cost crystal growth methods. The results have a significant impact on III–V solar cell fabrication and costs as it (i) enables fully carrier-selective architectures, (ii) reduces cell fabrication complexity, and (iii) is suitable for layers grown by low-cost crystal growth techniques.
Cited By
This article is cited by 2 publications.
- Junkun Wang, Jiansen Guo, Jiehui Liang, Chaoying Guo, Youtian Mo, Peixin Liu, Shaohua Xie, Wenliang Wang, Guoqiang Li. InP QDs modified GaAs/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cell with efficiency over 15%. Nano Letters 2024, 24
(39)
, 12111-12117. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c02861
- Tuomas Haggren, Hark Hoe Tan, Chennupati Jagadish. III–V Thin Films for Flexible, Cost-Effective, and Emerging Applications in Optoelectronics and Photonics. Accounts of Materials Research 2023, 4
(12)
, 1046-1056. https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.3c00138
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