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Nano Research 2017, 10(11): 3848-3856 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1598-z
Research Article | Issue | Published: 07 July 2017

Black phosphorus induced photo-doping for high- performance organic-silicon heterojunction photovoltaics

Show Author's Information Zhouhui Xia1,  Pengfei Li1,  Yuqiang Liu1,  Tao Song1,  Qiaoliang Bao2,  Shuit-Tong Lee1,  Baoquan Sun1( )
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM) Soochow University Suzhou 215123 China
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Monash University ClaytonVictoria 3800 Australia
Keywords:
black phosphorus, zinc oxide, photovoltaics, light induced dopant
Cite this article:
Xia Z, Li P, Liu Y, et al. Black phosphorus induced photo-doping for high- performance organic-silicon heterojunction photovoltaics. Nano Research, 2017, 10(11): 3848-3856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1598-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

In conventional crystalline silicon (Si) homojunction solar cells, a strategy of doping by transporting phosphorus or boron impurities into Si is commonly used to build Ohmic contacts at rear electrodes. However, this technique involves an energy intensive, high temperature (~ 800 ℃) process and toxic doping materials. Black phosphorus (BP) is a two-dimensional, narrow bandgap semiconductor with high carrier mobility that exhibits broad light harvesting properties. Here, we place BP: zinc oxide (ZnO) composite films between Si and aluminum (Al) to improve their contact. Once the BP harvests photons with energies below 1.1 eV from the crystalline Si, the ZnO carrier concentration increases dramatically due to charge injection. This photo-induced doping results in a high carrier concentration in the ZnO film, mimicking the modulated doping technique used in semiconductor heterojunctions. We show that photo-induced carriers dramatically increase the conductivities of the BP-modified ZnO films, thus reducing the contact resistance between Si and Al. A photovoltaic power conversion efficiency of 15.2% is achieved in organic-Si heterojunction solar cells that use a ZnO: BP layer. These findings demonstrate an effective way of improving Si/metal contact via a simple, low temperature process.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Black phosphorus induced photo-doping for high- performance organic-silicon heterojunction photovoltaics

Show Author's information Zhouhui Xia1, Pengfei Li1, Yuqiang Liu1, Tao Song1, Qiaoliang Bao2, Shuit-Tong Lee1, Baoquan Sun1( )
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM) Soochow University Suzhou 215123 China
Department of Materials Science and Engineering Monash University ClaytonVictoria 3800 Australia

Abstract

In conventional crystalline silicon (Si) homojunction solar cells, a strategy of doping by transporting phosphorus or boron impurities into Si is commonly used to build Ohmic contacts at rear electrodes. However, this technique involves an energy intensive, high temperature (~ 800 ℃) process and toxic doping materials. Black phosphorus (BP) is a two-dimensional, narrow bandgap semiconductor with high carrier mobility that exhibits broad light harvesting properties. Here, we place BP: zinc oxide (ZnO) composite films between Si and aluminum (Al) to improve their contact. Once the BP harvests photons with energies below 1.1 eV from the crystalline Si, the ZnO carrier concentration increases dramatically due to charge injection. This photo-induced doping results in a high carrier concentration in the ZnO film, mimicking the modulated doping technique used in semiconductor heterojunctions. We show that photo-induced carriers dramatically increase the conductivities of the BP-modified ZnO films, thus reducing the contact resistance between Si and Al. A photovoltaic power conversion efficiency of 15.2% is achieved in organic-Si heterojunction solar cells that use a ZnO: BP layer. These findings demonstrate an effective way of improving Si/metal contact via a simple, low temperature process.

Keywords: black phosphorus, zinc oxide, photovoltaics, light induced dopant

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 14 February 2017
Revised: 17 March 2017
Accepted: 18 March 2017
Published: 07 July 2017
Issue date: November 2017

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2012CB932402), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91123005 and 61674108), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and Collaborative Innovation Centre of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology.

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