Photovoltaic Measurements in Single-Nanowire Silicon Solar Cells

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2008 papers

Abstract

Single-nanowire solar cells were created by forming rectifying junctions in electrically contacted vapor-liquid-solid-grown Si nanowires. The nanowires had diameters in the range of 200 nm to 1.5 microm. Dark and light current-voltage measurements were made under simulated Air Mass 1.5 global illumination. Photovoltaic spectral response measurements were also performed. Scanning photocurrent microscopy indicated that the Si nanowire devices had minority carrier diffusion lengths of approximately 2 microm. Assuming bulk-dominated recombination, this value corresponds to a minimum carrier lifetime of approximately 15 ns, or assuming surface-dominated recombination, to a maximum surface recombination velocity of approximately 1350 cm s(-1). The methods described herein comprise a valuable platform for measuring the properties of semiconductor nanowires, and are expected to be instrumental when designing an efficient macroscopic solar cell based on arrays of such nanostructures.

Related Papers

• → A novel research approach on the dynamic properties of photogenerated charge carriers at Ag2S quantum-dots-sensitized TiO2 films by a frequency-modulated surface photovoltage technology(2013)21 cited
• → Measuring the Minority-Carrier Diffusion Length of n-Type In0.53Ga0.47As Epilayers Using Surface Photovoltage(2017)5 cited
• → Photoconductance Minority Carrier Lifetime vs. Surface Photovoltage Diffusion Length In Silicon(1993)13 cited
• → A comparison of carrier lifetime measurements by photoconductive decay and surface photovoltage methods(1978)13 cited
• → Determination of minority carrier diffusion lengths in semiconductor wafers with non-uniform carrier lifetimes by the surface photovoltage technique(2002)