Crystalline Si Solar Cells with Passivating, Carrier-selective Nickel Oxide Contacts

We examine the potential to enhance cell performance using wide bandgap metal oxide films as full-area rear contacts to p-type crystalline Si (c-Si) solar cells. We aim to introduce a band offset through wide bandgap nickel oxide rather than introducing a band bending through transition metal oxides (e.g. MoO x , V 2 Ox, WO x ). Our numerical simulation shows it is possible to achieve one-sun efficiency of 21.6% with the open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 652 mV, the short-circuit current density (J sc ) of 39.9 mA/cm2 and the fill factor (FF) of 82.5% when the back surface recombination velocities is 100 cm/s at p-Si/NiO x .