Silicon nanowire - poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

Radial heterojunctions are known to exhibit magnificent anti-reflectivity and enhanced carrier collectivity due to short carrier diffusion distances. In this work, silicon nanowire-poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) radial heterojunction solar cells are presented. Both layers of the heterojunction are fabricated using simple and cost-effective methods. Radial heterojunctions showed remarkable improvements in solar cell characteristics compared to planar heterojunctions, fabricated under the same conditions. The highest solar cell efficiency of 5.30% is obtained. The cells exhibit external quantum efficiency of 77% at 500 nm wavelength and harvest light over the entire 300-1200 nm spectral bandwidth. The effect of nanowire length on device performance is also determined.