Solar Cells on Multicrystalline Silicon Thin Films Converted from Low‐Cost Soda‐Lime Glass
Abstract Fabrication and characterization of solar cells based on multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) thin films are described and synthesized from low‐cost soda‐lime glass (SLG). The aluminothermic redox reaction of the silicon oxide in SLG during low‐temperature annealing at 600 – 650 °C leads to an mc‐Si thin film with large grains of lateral dimensions in the millimeter range, and moderate p ‐type conductivity with an average Al acceptor concentration between 5 × 10 16 and 1.2 × 10 17 cm −3 in the bulk. A residual composite layer of mainly alumina and unreacted Al forms beneath the mc‐Si thin film as the second product of the crystalline silicon synthesis (CSS) process, which can be used as rear contact in a vertical solar cell design. The mc‐Si absorber (≈10 µm) is thin enough that the diffusion length given by a minority carrier lifetime of ≈1 µs exceeds the path length to the top contact several times. Homojunction and heterojunction diodes have been fabricated on the mc‐Si thin films and show great potential of CSS for the realization of high‐performance solar cells.
Authors
- Stefan G. Ebbinghaus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6391-2582)
- Guobin Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9079-1624)
- Christian Strelow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5989-1675)
- Annett Gawlik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7568-8565)
- Erwin Peiner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5801-813X)
- Daozheng Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0121-9038)
- Michael Fahrbach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1027-9968)
- Jonathan Plentz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1176-0710)
- Jan Krügener (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7095-9768)
- Ingrid Schall
- U. B. Brückner
Institutions
- Leibniz University Hannover (DE)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (DE)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials Interfaces
- Published
- 2024-09-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202400170
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.21
Funders
- Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt
- Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
- European Commission
- Technische Universität Braunschweig
- Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie
- European Regional Development Fund