Enhanced power conversion efficiency of an n-Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cell using nanostructured silicon and gold nanoparticles

Pham Van Trinh; Nguyen Ngoc Anh; Nguyen Thi Cham; Le Tuan Tu; Nguyen Van Hao; Bui Hung Thang; Nguyen Van Chuc; Cao Thi Thanh; Phan Ngoc Minh; Naoki Fukata

doi:10.1039/d2ra01246d

Enhanced power conversion efficiency of an n-Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cell using nanostructured silicon and gold nanoparticles

RSC Adv. 2022 Apr 5;12(17):10514-10521. doi: 10.1039/d2ra01246d. eCollection 2022 Mar 31.

Authors

Pham Van Trinh^{1

2}, Nguyen Ngoc Anh¹, Nguyen Thi Cham³, Le Tuan Tu³, Nguyen Van Hao⁴, Bui Hung Thang¹, Nguyen Van Chuc¹, Cao Thi Thanh¹, Phan Ngoc Minh^{1

2}, Naoki Fukata⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Str., Cau Giay Distr. Hanoi Vietnam trinhpv@ims.vast.vn +84 943190301.
² Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 18 Hoang Quoc Viet Str., Cau Giay Distr. Hanoi Vietnam.
³ VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University 334 Nguyen Trai Str., Thanh Xuan Distr. Hanoi Vietnam.
⁴ Faculty of Physics and Technology, TNU-University of Sciences Tan Thinh Ward Thai Nguyen City Vietnam.
⁵ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba Ibaraki 305-0044 Japan.

Abstract

Herein, the effect of nanostructured silicon and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of an n-type silicon/poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (n-Si/PEDOT:PSS) hybrid solar cell was investigated. The Si surface modified with different nanostructures including Si nanopyramids (SiNPs), Si nanoholes (SiNHs) and Si nanowires (SiNWs) was utilized to improve light trapping and photo-carrier collection. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.15% was obtained with the hybrid solar cell employing SiNWs, which is about 8%, 20% and 40% higher compared to the devices using SiNHs, SiNPs and planar Si, respectively. The enhancement is attributed to the low reflectance of the SiNW structures and large PEDOT:PSS/Si interfacial area. In addition, the influence of AuNPs on the hybrid solar cell's performance was examined. The PCE of the SiNW/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cell with 0.5 wt% AuNP is 8.89%, which is ca. 9% higher than that of the device without AuNPs (8.15%). This is attributed to the increase in the electrical conductivity and localized surface plasmon resonance of the AuNP-incorporated PEDOT:PSS coating layer.