DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF LASER PROCESSED LIGHT MANAGEMENT INTERFACES FOR GRAPHENE/SILICON SCHOTTKY SOLAR CELLS

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2022-12-20
Avishan, Nardin
Graphene/silicon Schottky solar cells are one of the extensively studied topics during the last decade due to the high conductivity, high transparency, and mechanical flexibility properties of graphene. One of the most efficient and long-lasting methods used for performance enhancement for graphene/silicon Schottky solar cells is silicon surface texturing. It significantly increases the light absorption of silicon by controlling the incoming light through multiple interactions which is called light trapping. Rather than the well-established random pyramids, nanostructures such as freestanding nanoholes and nanowires which are applicable for thin films, are promising effective light trapping. In this thesis, three different surface texturing methods of metal-assisted chemical etching, femtosecond laser-induced periodic surface structuring, and photochemical etching are used to texture the silicon surface for graphene/silicon Schottky solar cell application. The attempt is targeting the development of laser-assisted fabrication of light management interfaces using laser-induced periodic surface structuring and photochemical etching methods. Diode-pumped solid-state high-power 532 nm CW laser and a femtosecond 1030 nm wavelength laser are used as a source for photochemical etching and laser-induced periodic surface structuring methods, respectively. In addition, the well-established metal-assisted chemical etching method is used to compare the results related to the other two methods. Partially etched and fully etched surfaces are fabricated to study the relation between the enhanced light trapping and the recombination rate of the majority carrier in presence of defects. The main finding and results show that the surfaces textured by the photochemical etching method outperform the surfaces textured by metal-assisted chemical etching and laser-induced periodic surface structuring methods.

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Citation Formats
N. Avishan, “DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF LASER PROCESSED LIGHT MANAGEMENT INTERFACES FOR GRAPHENE/SILICON SCHOTTKY SOLAR CELLS,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2022.