Effect of ZnO Interfacial Layer Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition on the Performance of Graphene/Silicon Schottky Junction Solar Cells

The recent development of Gr/Si Schottky barrier solar cells (SBSC) have shown the potential to produce low cost and high efficiency solar cells. However, the performance of Gr/Si SBSC is affected by the high recombination at Gr/Si interface and the growth of native oxide that results in instability issue. By engineering the interface with zinc oxide interfacial layers grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD), we have shown an improvement in the solar cell performance and stability. The V
_oc
improved from 0.41V to 0.47V, the J
_sc
increased from 27.15mA/cm2 to 27.6mA/cm
²
and the FF improved from 32.6% to 48.3% with ZnO passivation. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) increased from 3.77% to 6.28%. The results of this work revealed the potential of using zinc oxide as interfacial layers to improve the performance and stability of Gr/Si SBSC.