Nano/micro hybrid radial junction silicon solar cells

Abstract

A novel nano/micro hybrid solar cell structure was fabricated by selectively applying nanostructures on top of existing microwire arrays. This hybrid structure showed a light absorption of 97%, significantly higher than that of planar or microwire array structures. The efficiency (Eff) of this hybrid cell increased by approximately 61.5% and 16.5% compared to those of the planar Si solar cell (Eff = 10.9%) and the microwire solar cell (Eff = 15.1%), respectively. The proposed hybrid cell demonstrated a high efficiency of 17.6% with Jsc = 39.5 mA·cm-2; Voc = 584 mV; and FF = 76.1%. This shows that highly efficient radial junction solar cells, which exhibit outstanding light absorption, can be fabricated without additional Anti-Reflection Coating when this nano/micro hybrid structure is used. Therefore, we expect this nano/micro hybrid structure to play a significant role in the development of highly efficient radial junction solar cells.