Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are becoming a popular choice to develop a new generation of radial junction solar cells. We here explore a bismuth- (Bi-) catalyzed growth and doping of SiNWs, via vapor鈥搇iquid鈥搒olid (VLS) mode, to fabricate amorphous Si radial n鈥搃鈥損 junction solar cells in a one-pump-down and low-temperature process in a single chamber plasma deposition system. We provide the first evidence that catalyst doping in the SiNW cores, caused by incorporating Bi catalyst atoms as n-type dopant, can be utilized to fabricate radial junction solar cells, with a record open circuit voltage of
Voc = 0.76 V and an enhanced light trapping effect that boosts the short circuit current to
Jsc = 11.23 mA/cm
2. More importantly, this bi-catalyzed SiNW growth and doping strategy exempts the use of extremely toxic phosphine gas, leading to significant procedure simplification and cost reduction for building radial junction thin film solar cells.
Keywords:
Radial junction solar cell;
silicon nanowire;
vapor鈭抣iquid鈭抯olid growth;
bismuth catalyzed growth;
bismuth doping;
PECVD thin film deposition