Polythiophenes as emitter layers for crystalline silicon solar cells: Parasitic absorption, interface passivation, and open circuit voltage.

We investigated the influence of the emitter (amorphous-Si, a-Si, or polythiophene derivatives: poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, and poly(3-[3,6-dioxaheptyl]-thiophene), P3DOT) and the interface passivation (intrinsic a-Si or SiOX and methyl groups or SiOX) on the c-Si based 1×1 cm2 planar hybrid heterojunction solar cell parameters. We observed higher short circuit currents for the P3HT or P3DOT/c-Si solar cells than those obtained for a-Si/c-Si devices, independent of the interface passivation. The obtained VOC of 659mV for the P3DOT/SiOX/c-Si heterojunction solar cell with hydrophilic 3,6-dioxaheptyl side chains is among the highest reported for c-Si/polythiophene devices. The maximum power conversion efficiency, PCE, was 11% for the P3DOT/SiOX/c-Si heterojunction solar cell. Additionally, our wafer lifetime measurements reveal a field effect passivation in the wafer induced by the polythiophenes when deposited on c-Si. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]