Quantum dot solar cells are based on the concept of harvesting different parts of the solar light spectrum with a single, cheap semiconductor by simply changing the size of the nanoparticles. Of the many compositions explored, germanium is one of the most interesting as it has the major advantage of a large Bohr radius, which allows for the fabrication of larger particles. Moreover, germaniums possess very high optical absorption, and a small band gap give it free parameters to optimize the quantum dot solar cell. In a previous work, the germanium quantum dots were used in a Gratzel type solar cell containing an electrolyte, which is not desirable for applications. In this work instead, the n-doped germanium quantum dots were combined with a p-doped a-Si layer, making it the first all solid-state solar cell made from nanoparticles from a gas aggregation nanoparticle source. Remarkably, the effect of quantum confinement in both the germanium quantum dot assembled layer and a-Si was observed by peaks in the spectral response experiments. This work forms an important step toward realizing a germanium quantum dot based solar cell and studying quantum dot based solids.
Quantum confinement in the spectral response of n-doped germanium quantum dots embedded in an amorphous Si layer for quantum dot-based solar cells / Parravicini J.; Di Trapani F.; Nelson M.D.; Rex Z.T.; Beiter R.D.; Catelani T.; Acciarri M.F.; Podesta A.; Lenardi C.; Binetti S.O.; Di Vece M.. - In: ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS. - ISSN 2574-0970. - ELETTRONICO. - 3:(2020), pp. 2813-2821. [10.1021/acsanm.0c00125]
Quantum confinement in the spectral response of n-doped germanium quantum dots embedded in an amorphous Si layer for quantum dot-based solar cells
Parravicini J.;Catelani T.;
2020
Abstract
Quantum dot solar cells are based on the concept of harvesting different parts of the solar light spectrum with a single, cheap semiconductor by simply changing the size of the nanoparticles. Of the many compositions explored, germanium is one of the most interesting as it has the major advantage of a large Bohr radius, which allows for the fabrication of larger particles. Moreover, germaniums possess very high optical absorption, and a small band gap give it free parameters to optimize the quantum dot solar cell. In a previous work, the germanium quantum dots were used in a Gratzel type solar cell containing an electrolyte, which is not desirable for applications. In this work instead, the n-doped germanium quantum dots were combined with a p-doped a-Si layer, making it the first all solid-state solar cell made from nanoparticles from a gas aggregation nanoparticle source. Remarkably, the effect of quantum confinement in both the germanium quantum dot assembled layer and a-Si was observed by peaks in the spectral response experiments. This work forms an important step toward realizing a germanium quantum dot based solar cell and studying quantum dot based solids.I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.