Toward metal-organic insulator-semiconductor solar cells, based on molecular monolayer self-assembly on n-Si

Rotem Har-Lavan; Izhar Ron; Florent Thieblemont; David Cahen

doi:10.1063/1.3076115

Toward metal-organic insulator-semiconductor solar cells, based on molecular monolayer self-assembly on n-Si

Rotem Har-Lavan, Izhar Ron, Florent Thieblemont, David Cahen

Weizmann Institute of Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

Alkyl chain molecules on n-Si were used to test the concept of hybrid metal-organic insulator-semiconductor (MOIS) solar cells. Test structures were made by binding alkyl chain molecules via Si-O-C bonds to oxide-free n-Si surfaces, using self-assembly. With thiol groups at the terminals away from the Si, binding of Au nanoparticles, followed by electroless Au plating yields semitransparent top contacts. First cells give, under 25 mW/ cm² white light illumination, open-circuit voltage V_oc =0.48 V and fill factor FF=0.58. Because with sulfur termination the molecules have a dipole that limits inversion of the Si, we also used methyl-terminated monolayers. Even though then we can work, at this point, only with a Hg top contact, without chemical bond to the molecules, we get, using only radiation (∼AM 1.5) collected around the contact, the expected higher V_oc =0.54 V, and respectable 0.8 FF, justifying further MOIS cell development.

Original language	English
Article number	043308
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	94
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3076115
State	Published - 2009
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We thank the Nancy and Stephen Grand Center for Sensors & Security, the Minerva Foundation (Munich), the NATO Science for Peace program, the German Israeli Cooperation in Energy Research, a research grant from Jack Halpern and 21 Ventures for partial support. R.H. and I.R. acknowledge partial support from the Feinberg Graduate School. We thank Gilad Gotesman for help with the Au NPs. F.T. thanks the French Embassy in Israel’s Scientific Office for partial support through the French Int’l. Volunteers Program. D.C. holds the Rowland and Sylvia Schaefer Chair in Energy Research.

Funders	Funder number
Feinberg Graduate School
French Embassy in Israel’s Scientific Office
German Israeli Cooperation in Energy Research
Jack Halpern and 21 Ventures
NATO Science for Peace
Nancy and Stephen Grand Center for Sensors & Security
Minerva Foundation

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10.1063/1.3076115

Cite this

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abstract = "Alkyl chain molecules on n-Si were used to test the concept of hybrid metal-organic insulator-semiconductor (MOIS) solar cells. Test structures were made by binding alkyl chain molecules via Si-O-C bonds to oxide-free n-Si surfaces, using self-assembly. With thiol groups at the terminals away from the Si, binding of Au nanoparticles, followed by electroless Au plating yields semitransparent top contacts. First cells give, under 25 mW/ cm2 white light illumination, open-circuit voltage Voc =0.48 V and fill factor FF=0.58. Because with sulfur termination the molecules have a dipole that limits inversion of the Si, we also used methyl-terminated monolayers. Even though then we can work, at this point, only with a Hg top contact, without chemical bond to the molecules, we get, using only radiation (∼AM 1.5) collected around the contact, the expected higher Voc =0.54 V, and respectable 0.8 FF, justifying further MOIS cell development.",

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Toward metal-organic insulator-semiconductor solar cells, based on molecular monolayer self-assembly on n-Si

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