Using Spin-Coated Silver Nanoparticles/Zinc Oxide Thin Films to Improve the Efficiency of GaInP/(In)GaAs/Ge Solar Cells

Po-Hsun Lei; I-Jen Chen; Jia-Jan Chen; Po-Chun Yang; Yan-Hua Gong

doi:10.3390/ma11061020

Using Spin-Coated Silver Nanoparticles/Zinc Oxide Thin Films to Improve the Efficiency of GaInP/(In)GaAs/Ge Solar Cells

Materials (Basel). 2018 Jun 15;11(6):1020. doi: 10.3390/ma11061020.

Authors

Po-Hsun Lei¹, I-Jen Chen², Jia-Jan Chen³, Po-Chun Yang⁴, Yan-Hua Gong⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Electro-Optical and Materials Science, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-Hwa Rd, Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin 623, Taiwan. pohsunlei@gmail.com.
² Institute of Electro-Optical and Materials Science, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-Hwa Rd, Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin 623, Taiwan. angelren1010@gmail.com.
³ Institute of Electro-Optical and Materials Science, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-Hwa Rd, Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin 623, Taiwan. style_rx7@hotmail.com.tw.
⁴ Institute of Electro-Optical and Materials Science, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-Hwa Rd, Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin 623, Taiwan. 10676124@gm.nfu.edu.tw.
⁵ Institute of Electro-Optical and Materials Science, National Formosa University, 64 Wen-Hwa Rd, Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin 623, Taiwan. 10676111@gm.nfu.edu.tw.

Abstract

We synthesized a silver nanoparticle/zinc oxide (Ag NP/ZnO) thin film by using spin-coating technology. The treatment solution for Ag NP/ZnO thin film deposition contained zinc acetate (Zn(CH₃COO)₂), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and silver nitrate (AgNO₃) aqueous solutions. The crystalline characteristics, surface morphology, content of elements, and reflectivity of the Ag NPs/ZnO thin film at various concentrations of the AgNO₃ aqueous solution were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and ultraviolet⁻visible⁻near infrared spectrophotometry. The results indicated that the crystalline structure, Ag content, and reflectance of Ag NP/ZnO thin films depended on the AgNO₃ concentration. Hybrid antireflection coatings (ARCs) composed of SiN_x and Ag NPs/ZnO thin films with various AgNO₃ concentrations were deposited on GaInP/(In)GaAs/Ge solar cells. We propose that the optimal ARC consists of SiN_x and Ag NP/ZnO thin films prepared using a treatment solution of 0.0008 M AgNO₃, 0.007 M Zn(CH₃COO)₂, and 1 M NaOH, followed by post-annealing at 200 °C. GaInP/(Al)GaAs/Ge solar cells with the optimal hybrid ARC and SiN_x ARC exhibit a conversion efficiency of 34.1% and 30.2% with V_oc = 2.39 and 2.4 V, J_sc = 16.63 and 15.37 mA/cm², and fill factor = 86.1% and 78.8%.

Keywords: Ag NPs/zinc oxide thin film; InGaP/InGaAs/Ge solar cell; spin-coating technology.