TY - JOUR
T1 - Tantalum Oxide Electron-Selective Heterocontacts for Silicon Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochemical Water Reduction
AU - Wan, Yimao
AU - Karuturi, Siva Krishna
AU - Samundsett, Christian
AU - Bullock, James
AU - Hettick, Mark
AU - Yan, Di
AU - Peng, Jun
AU - Narangari, Parvathala Reddy
AU - Mokkapati, Sudha
AU - Tan, Hark Hoe
AU - Jagadish, Chennupati
AU - Javey, Ali
AU - Cuevas, Andres
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/1/12
Y1 - 2018/1/12
N2 - Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells have been dominating the photovoltaic (PV) market for decades, and c-Si based photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are regarded as one of the most promising routes for water splitting and renewable production of hydrogen. In this work, we demonstrate a nanoscale tantalum oxide (TaOx, ∼6 nm) as an electron-selective heterocontact, simultaneously providing high-quality passivation to the silicon surface and effective transport of electrons to either an external circuit or a water-splitting catalyst. The PV application of TaOx is demonstrated by a proof-of-concept device having a conversion efficiency of 19.1%. In addition, the PEC application is demonstrated by a photon-to-current efficiency (with additional applied bias) of 7.7%. These results represent a 2% and 3.8% absolute enhancement over control devices without a TaOx interlayer, respectively. The methods presented in this Letter are not limited to c-Si based devices and can be viewed as a more general approach to the interface engineering of optoelectronic and photoelectrochemical applications.
AB - Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells have been dominating the photovoltaic (PV) market for decades, and c-Si based photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells are regarded as one of the most promising routes for water splitting and renewable production of hydrogen. In this work, we demonstrate a nanoscale tantalum oxide (TaOx, ∼6 nm) as an electron-selective heterocontact, simultaneously providing high-quality passivation to the silicon surface and effective transport of electrons to either an external circuit or a water-splitting catalyst. The PV application of TaOx is demonstrated by a proof-of-concept device having a conversion efficiency of 19.1%. In addition, the PEC application is demonstrated by a photon-to-current efficiency (with additional applied bias) of 7.7%. These results represent a 2% and 3.8% absolute enhancement over control devices without a TaOx interlayer, respectively. The methods presented in this Letter are not limited to c-Si based devices and can be viewed as a more general approach to the interface engineering of optoelectronic and photoelectrochemical applications.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040617451&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01153
DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01153
M3 - Article
SN - 2380-8195
VL - 3
SP - 125
EP - 131
JO - ACS Energy Letters
JF - ACS Energy Letters
IS - 1
ER -