The proposed TiO2protected carrier-selective contacts resemble a metal-oxide-semiconductor configuration, including a highly-doped nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) and a tunnel oxide, thereby form a heterostructure with the c-Si substrate. By substituting conventional pn+-junction Si by c-Si/SiOX/nc-Si structure for both front and back contacts we demonstrate a 16% increase in photovoltage (an open circuit voltage of 584mV under AM 1.5G conditions). TiO2 protected carrier-selective photoelectrodes showed excellent long-term durability in acidic aqueous solution having stable photocurrent output for more than 40days, implying that the proposed carrier-selective contact is a promising configuration to substitute for the conventional pn-junction based c-Si photocathodes.
Dowon Bae,Thomas Pedersen, Brian Seger, Beniamino Iandolo, Ole Hansen, Peter C.K.Vesborg and Ib Chorkendorff
Catalysis Today
Volume 290, 15 July 2017, Pages 59-64
doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2016.11.028
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