Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Organic Materials Embedded Into Porous Silicon
Natalya Tokranova, Bai Xu, James Castracane, Igor A. Levitsky, William B. Euler, Proceedings SPIE, 2005, 5724, 183 – 190
Abstract
Solar cells based on organic and inorganic materials are an emerging technology for a new generation of photovoltaics (PV). Hybrid solar cells, which use both organic and inorganic components, have advantages such as cost-effective processing and the ability to fabricate devices on flexible substrates. The combination of organic materials with semiconductor nanostructures allows enhancement of the conversion efficiency due to the fast electron transport in semiconductors and a high interface area between organic and inorganic components. In our work, anodized porous Si (PSi) was chosen as a host matrix filled with Copper Phthalocyanine (CuPC) molecules. The resulting nanocomposite can yield high performance novel materials for solar cells. The fabrication of PSi was completed using electrochemical etching of Si in diluted hydrofluoric acid (HF). Also, this process, with some modifications, can be applied to produce free-standing PSi films of desired thickness. PSi layer was filled with CuPC dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid. The top contact was made by sputtering of Au or ITO. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3% (33 mW/cm2) was obtained for 12 micron thick n-type pSi layer with pore sizes of approximately 15 nm filled with CuPC. The electrochemical etching of Si under different conditions was carried out to optimize the photovoltaic parameters. A detailed investigation of the solar cell performance depending on porous layer thicknesses and pore sizes is presented. The use of free-standing films of PSi can lead to the fabrication of novel PV solar cells on flexible substrates with high conversion efficiency.