document

Strategies for realizing high-efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells

Zhao, Y. (author), Procel Moya, P.A. (author), Han, C. (author), Cao, L. (author), Yang, G. (author), Özkol, E. (author), Alcañiz, Alba (author), Kovačević, K. (author), Limodio, G. (author), Santbergen, R. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author), Weeber, A.W. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Mazzarella, L. (author), Isabella, O. (author)

Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells have achieved a record efficiency of 26.81% in a front/back-contacted (FBC) configuration. Moreover, thanks to their advantageous high V_OC and good infrared response, SHJ solar cells can be further combined with wide bandgap perovskite cells forming tandem devices to enable efficiencies well...

journal article 2023

document

Effects of (i)a-Si: H deposition temperature on high-efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells

Zhao, Y. (author), Procel Moya, P.A. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author), Mazzarella, L. (author), Han, C. (author), Yang, G. (author), Cao, L. (author), Yao, Z. (author), Weeber, A.W. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Isabella, O. (author)

Excellent surface passivation induced by (i)a-Si:H is critical to achieve high-efficiency silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. This is key for conventional single-junction cell applications but also for bottom cell application in tandem devices. In this study, we investigated the effects of (i)a-Si:H deposition temperature on passivation...

journal article 2022

document

Designing a hybrid thin-film/wafer silicon triple photovoltaic junction for solar water splitting

Perez Rodriguez, P. (author), Vijselaar, Wouter (author), Huskens, Jurriaan (author), Stam, Machiel (author), Falkenberg, M. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smith, W.A. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

Solar fuels are a promising way to store solar energy seasonally. This paper proposes an earth-abundant heterostructure to split water using a photovoltaic-electrochemical device (PV-EC). The heterostructure is based on a hybrid architecture of a thin-film (TF) silicon tandem on top of a c-Si wafer (W) heterojunction solar cell (a-Si:H (TF)...

journal article 2019

document

Electrochemical Oxidation of Organic Pollutants Powered by a Silicon-Based Solar Cell

Perez Rodriguez, P. (author), Maqueira Gonzalez, Carlos (author), Doekhi-Bennani, Y. (author), Rietveld, L.C. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

Currently available (photo-)electrochemical technologies for water treatment establish a trade-off between low-pollutant concentration and costs. This paper aims at decoupling these two variables by designing a photo-oxidation device using earth abundant materials and an electronic-free approach. The proposed device combines a graphite...

journal article 2018

document

Maximizing annual yield of bifacial photovoltaic noise barriers

Faturrochman, G.J. (author), de Jong, M.M. (author), Santbergen, R. (author), Folkerts, W. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

In this work we consider noise barriers with integrated photovoltaic modules. The novelty is that bifacial modules are considered. A full scale bifacial photovoltaic noise barrier was built and its power output was monitored. In addition we developed an advanced numerical model for predicting this power output for given weather conditions....

journal article 2018

document

Advanced light management techniques for two-terminal hybrid tandem solar cells

Blanker, A.J. (author), Berendsen, P.P.A. (author), Phung, N. (author), Vroon, Z.E.A.P. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

Multi-junction solar cells are considered for various applications, as they tackle various loss mechanisms for single junction solar cells. These losses include thermalization and non-absorption below the band gap. In this work, a tandem configuration comprising copper-indium-gallium-di-selenide (CIGS) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si...

journal article 2018

document

Improving the Back Surface Field on an Amorphous Silicon Carbide Thin Film Photocathode for Solar Water Splitting

Perez Rodriguez, P. (author), Cardenas-Morcoso, Drialys (author), Digdaya, I.A. (author), Mangel Raventos, A. (author), Procel Moya, P.A. (author), Isabella, O. (author), Gimenez, Sixto (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smith, W.A. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

Amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) is a promising material for photoelectrochemical water splitting owing to its relatively small band-gap energy and high chemical and optoelectrical stability. This work studies the interplay between charge-carrier separation and collection, and their injection into the electrolyte, when modifying the...

journal article 2018

document

Migration of Open Volume Deficiencies in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon during Annealing

Melskens, J. (author), Eijt, S.W.H. (author), Schouten, M. (author), Vullers, A.S. (author), Mannheim, Awital (author), Schut, H. (author), Macco, Bart (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

The nanostructure of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) is studied by means of doppler broadening positron annihilation spectroscopy (DB-PAS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The evolution of open volume deficiencies is monitored during annealing, demonstrating that small vacancies and other small vacancy clusters that...

journal article 2017

document

New insights into the nanostructure of innovative thin film solar cells gained by positron annihilation spectroscopy

Eijt, S.W.H. (author), Shi, W. (author), Mannheim, A. (author), Butterling, M. (author), Schut, H. (author), Egger, W (author), Dickmann, M. (author), Hugenschmidt, C (author), Shakeri, B. (author), Meulenberg, R.W. (author), Callewaert, V. (author), Saniz, R (author), Partoens, B (author), Barbiellini, B (author), Bansil, A (author), Melskens, J. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author), Kulbak, M. (author), Hodes, G. (author), Cahen, D. (author), Brück, E.H. (author)

Recent studies showed that positron annihilation methods can provide key insights into the nanostructure and electronic structure of thin film solar cells. In this study, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is applied to investigate CdSe quantum dot (QD) light absorbing layers, providing evidence of positron trapping at the...

journal article 2017

document

Calculation of irradiance distribution on PV modules by combining sky and sensitivity maps

Santbergen, R. (author), Muthukumar, V.A. (author), Valckenborg, R.M.E. (author), van de Wall, W.J.A. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author), Zeman, M. (author)

Photovoltaic (PV) modules receive both direct light from the sun and scattered light from the sky, ground and nearby objects. The calculation of incident irradiance becomes complex when nearby objects cast shadows or reflect sunlight onto the PV modules. In this paper a flexible irradiance model is presented that takes all these effects into...

journal article 2017

document

Light-Induced Effects on the a-Si: H/c-Si Heterointerface

Vasudevan, R.A. (author), Poli, Isabella (author), Deligiannis, D. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

Light-induced effects on the minority carrier lifetime of silicon heterojunction structures are studied through multiple-exposure photoconductance decay (MEPCD). MEPCD monitors the effect of the measurement flash from a photoconductance decay setup on a sample over thousands of measurements. Varying the microstructure of the intrinsic...

journal article 2016

document

Solar fuel production by using PV/PEC junctions based on earth-abundant materials

Perez Rodriguez, P. (author), Digdaya, I.A. (author), Mangel Raventos, A. (author), Falkenberg, M. (author), Vasudevan, R.A. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smith, W.A. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

One of the main problems of renewable energies is storage of the energy carrier. For long-term storage, solar fuels seem to be a good option. Direct solar water splitting could play an important role in the production of these solar fuels. One of the main challenges of this process is the charge separation and collection at the interfaces. The...

conference paper 2016

document

Temperature dependency of the silicon heterojunction lifetime model based on the amphoteric nature of dangling bonds

Vasudevan, R.A. (author), Poli, I. (author), Deligiannis, D. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

This work adapts a model to simulate the carrier injection dependent minority carrier lifetime of crystalline silicon passivated with hydrogenated amorphous silicon at elevated temperatures. Two existing models that respectively calculate the bulk lifetime and surface recombination velocity are used and the full temperature dependency of...

journal article 2016

document

A thin-film silicon/silicon hetero-junction hybrid solar cell for photoelectrochemical water-reduction applications

Vasudevan, R.A. (author), Thanawala, Zaid (author), Han, L. (author), Tan, H. (author), Buijs, Thom (author), Deligiannis, D. (author), Perez Rodriguez, P. (author), Digdaya, I.A. (author), Smith, W.A. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

A hybrid tandem solar cell consisting of a thin-film, nanocrystalline silicon top junction and a siliconheterojunction bottom junction is proposed as a supporting solar cell for photoelectrochemical applications.Tunneling recombination junction engineering is shown to be an important consideration indesigning this type of solar cell. The best...

journal article 2016

document

Structural and electrical properties of metastable defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Melskens, J. (author), Schnegg, A. (author), Baldansuren, A. (author), Lips, K. (author), Plokker, M.P. (author), Eijt, S.W.H. (author), Schut, H. (author), Fischer, M. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

The structural and electrical properties of metastable defects in various types of hydrogenated amorphous silicon have been studied using a powerful combination of continuous wave electron-paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, electron spin echo (ESE) decay measurements, and Doppler broadening positron annihilation spectroscopy. The observed...

journal article 2015

document

Size control, quantum confinement, and oxidation kinetics of silicon nanocrystals synthesized at a high rate by expanding thermal plasma

Han, L. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

The growth mechanism of silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) synthesized at a high rate by means of expanding thermal plasma chemical vapor deposition technique are studied in this letter. A bimodal Gaussian size distribution is revealed from the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, and routes to reduce the unwanted large Si NCs are...

journal article 2015

document

Raman Study of Laser Induced Heating Effects in Free-Standing Silicon Nanocrystals

Han, L. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

This paper demonstrates that free-standing silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) have significantly different thermal conductivity properties compared to Si NCs embedded in a host matrix. The temperatures of Si NCs under laser illumination have been determined by measuring the ratio of the Anti-Stokes to Stokes intensities of the first order Si–Si...

journal article 2015

document

Plasmonic nanoparticle films for solar cell applications fabricated by size-selective aerosol deposition

Pfeiffer, T.V. (author), Ortiz Gonzalez, J. (author), Santbergen, R. (author), Tan, H. (author), Schmidt-Ott, A. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

A soft deposition method for incorporating surface plasmon resonant metal nanoparticles within photovoltaic devices was studied. This self-assembly method provides excellent control over both nanoparticle size and surface coverage. Films of spherical Ag nanoparticles with diameter of ?100 nm were fabricated by depositing size-selected aerosols...

conference paper 2014

document

Quadruple-junction thin-film silicon-based solar cells with high open-circuit voltage

Si, F.T. (author), Kim, D. (author), Santbergen, R. (author), Tan, H. (author), Van Swaaij, R.A.C.M.M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author), Isabella, O. (author), Zeman, M. (author)

journal article 2014

document

Enhancing the driving field for plasmonic nanoparticles in thin-film solar cells

Santbergen, R. (author), Hairen, T. (author), Zeman, M. (author), Smets, A.H.M. (author)

The scattering cross-section of a plasmonic nanoparticle is proportional to the intensity of the electric field that drives the plasmon resonance. In this work we determine the driving field pattern throughout a complete thin-film silicon solar cell. Our simulations reveal that by tuning of the thicknesses of silicon and transparent conductive...

journal article 2014