Design and simulation of type-I graphene/Si quantum dot superlattice for intermediate-band solar cell applications

Abstract

Recent experiments suggest graphene-based materials as candidates for use in future electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this study, we propose a new multilayer quantum dot (QD) superlattice (SL) structure with graphene as the core and silicon (Si) as the shell of QD. The Slater–Koster tight-binding method based on Bloch theory is exploited to investigate the band structure and energy states of the graphene/Si QD. Results reveal that the graphene/Si QD is a type-I QD and the ground state is 0.6 eV above the valance band. The results also suggest that the graphene/Si QD can be potentially used to create a sub-bandgap in all Si-based intermediate-band solar cells (IBSC). The energy level hybridization in a SL of graphene/Si QDs is investigated and it is observed that the mini-band formation is under the influence of inter-dot spacing among QDs. To evaluate the impact of the graphene/Si QD SL on the performance of Si-based solar cells, we design an IBSC based on the graphene/Si QD (QDIBSC) and calculate its short-circuit current density (J_sc) and carrier generation rate (G) using the 2D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. In comparison with the standard Si-based solar cell which records J_{sc}=16.907mA/{\mathrm{cm}}^2 and G=1.48943\times {10}^{28}{m}^{-3}·s^{-1}, the graphene/Si QD IBSC with 2 layers of QDs presents J_{sc}=36.4193mA/{\mathrm{cm}}^2 and G=7.94192\times {10}^{28}{m}^{-3}·s^{-1}, offering considerable improvement. Finally, the effects of the number of QD layers (L) and the height of QD (H) on the performance of the graphene/Si QD IBSC are discussed.

Key words： Graphene/silicon quantum dot; Intermediate-band; Solar cell; Superlattice

References

1 Collazos, L.J., Al Huwayz, M.M., Jakomin, R., Micha, D.N., Pinto, L.D., Kawabata, R.M.S., Pires, M.P.: The role of defects on the performance of quantum dot intermediate band solar cells. J. Photovolt. 11(4), 1022–1031 (2021)

2 Delamarre, A., Suchet, D., Cavassilas, N., Okada, Y., Sugiyama, M., Guillemoles, J.F.: An electronic ratchet is required in nanostructured intermediate band solar cells. J. Photovolt. 8(6), 1553–1559 (2018)

3 Islam, A., Das, A., Sarkar, N., Matin, M.A., Amin, N.: Numerical analysis of PbSe/GaAs quantum dot intermediate band solar cell (QDIBSC). In: Proceedings of 2018 International Conference on Computer, Communication, Chemical, Material and Electronic Engineering (IC4ME2). pp. 1–6 (2018)

4 Islam, A.A., Islam, R., Hasan, T., Hossain, E.: Projected performance of InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cell: effects of cap and passivation layers. IEEE Access 8, 212339–212350 (2020)

5 Martí, A. Cuadra, L., Luque, A.: Quasi-drift diffusion model for the quantum dot intermediate band solar cell. IEEE Transa. Electron Devices 49(9), 1632–1639 (2002)

6 Robichaud, L., Krich, J.J.: Wurtzite InGaN/GaN quantum dots for intermediate band solar cells. In: Proceedings of 2019 International Conference on Numerical Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices (NUSOD). pp. 57–58 (2019)

7 Rocha, B.V., Jakomin, R., Kawabata, R.M., Dornelas, L.P., Pires, M.P., Souza, P.L.: Transition energy calculation of type II InASP/ InGaP quantum dots for intermediate band solar cells. In: Proceedings of 2019 34th Symposium on Microelectronics Technology and Devices (SBMicro). pp. 1–3 (2019)

8 Hu, W., Fauzi, M.E., Igarashi, M., Higo, A., Lee M.-Y., Li, Y., Usami, N., Samukawa, S.: Type-II Ge/Si quantum dot superlattice for intermediate-band solar cell applications. In: Proceedings of 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC). pp. 1021–1023 (2013)

9 Lee, M.Y., Tsai, Y.C., Li, Y., Samukawa, S.: Numerical simulation of physical and electrical characteristic of Ge/Si quantum dots based intermediate band solar cell. In: Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Nanotechnology (2016)

10 Tsai, Y.C., Lee, M.Y., Li, Y., Samukawa, S.: Design and simulation of intermediate band solar cell with ultradense type-II multilayer Ge/Si quantum dot superlattice. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 64(11), 45474553(2017)

11 Zhang, X., Zhang, Y., Ye, Z., Li, W., Liao, T., Chen, J.: Graphene-based thermionic solar cells. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 39(2), 383–385 (2018)

12 Nemala, S., Prathapani, S., Kartikay, P., Bhargava, P., Mallick, S., Bohm, S.: Water-based high shear exfoliated graphene-based semi-transparent stable dye-sensitized solar cells for solar power window application. J. Photovolt. 8(5), 1252–1258 (2018)

13 Chou, J.C., Chang-Chia, L., Liao, Y.H., Lai, C.H., Nien, Y.H., Kuo, C.H., Ko, C.C.: Fabrication and electrochemical impedance analysis of dye-sensitized solar cells with titanium dioxide compact layer and graphene oxide dye absorption layer. IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 18, 461–466 (2019)

14 Chen, Q., Robertson, A.W., He, K., Gong, C., Yoon, E., Kirkland, A.I., Lee, G.D., Warner, J.H.: Elongated silicon–carbon bonds at graphene edges. ACS Nano 10(1), 142–149 (2015)

15 Javvaji, B., Shenoy, B.M., Roy Mahapatra, D., Abhilash, R., Hegde, G., Rizwan, M.: Stable configurations of graphene on silicon. Appli. Surface Sci. 414, 25–33 (2017)

16 Arefinia, Z., Asgari, A.: Optimization study of novel few-layer graphene/silicon quantum dots/silicon hetrojunction olar cell through opt-electrical modelling. J. Quant. Electron. 54(1), 4800106(2018)

17 Fioretti, A.N., Boccard, M., Monnard, R., Ballif, C.: Low-temperature p-type microcrystalline silicon as carrier selective contact for silicon heterojunction solar cells. J. Photovolt. 9(5), 1158–1165 (2019)

18 Mirzakhani, M.: Electronic properties and energy levels of graphene quantum dots. University Antwerpen (2017)

19 Lin, I.T., Liu, J.M.: Terahertz frequency-dependent carrier scattering rate and mobility of monolayer and AA-stacked multilayer graphene. IEEE J. Sel. Topics Quant. Electron. 20(1), 122–129 (2014)

20 Suemitsu, M., Fukidome, H.: Epitaxial graphene on silicon substrate. J. Phy. D: Appl. Phy. 43(37), 374012(2010)

21 Dang, X., Dong, H., Wang, L., Zhao, Y., Guo, Z., Hou, T., Li, Y., Lee, S.T.: Semiconducting graphene on silicon from first-principle calculation. ACS Nano 9(8), 8562–8568 (2015)

22 Daukiya, L., Nair, M.N., Cranney, M., Vonau, F., Hajjar-Garreau, S., Aubel, D., Simon, L.: Functionalization of 2D materials by intercalation. Progress in Surface Science 94(1), 1–20 (2018)

23 Xiang, C., Kong, F., Li, K.: A high-order symplectic FDTD scheme for the Maxwell-Schrodinger system. IEEE J. Quant. Electron. 54(1), 1–8 (2018)

24 Junaid, M., Witjaksono, G.: Analysis of band gap in AA and AB stacked bilayer graphene by hamiltonian tight binding method. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Sensors and Technology (2019)

25 Witjaksono, G., Junaid, M.: Analysis of tunable energy band gap of graphene layer. In: Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Photonics (2018)

26 Xie, G., Huang, Z., Fang, M., Sha, W.E.I.: Simulating Maxwell-Schrödinger equations by high-order symplectic FDTD algorithm. IEEE J. Multiscale and Multihysics Computational Techniques 4, 143–151 (2019)

27 Zhu L., Akiyama, H., Kanemitsu, Y.: Intrinsic and extrinsic drop in open circuit voltage and conversion efficiency in solar cells with quantum dots embedded in host material. Sci. Rep. 8(1), 11704(2018)

28 Shaik, A.R., Brinkman, D., Sankin, I., Krasikov, D., Ringhofer, C., Vasileska, D.: A unified 2D solver for modeling carrier and defect transport in photovoltaic devices. In: Proceedings of 2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) (A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC & 34th EU PVSEC). pp. 1953–1955 (2018)

29 Shaik, A.R., Brinkman, D., Sankin, I., Ringhofer, C., Krasikov, D., Kang, H., Benes, B., Vasileska, D.: PVRD-FASP: a unified solver for modeling carrier and defect transport in photovoltaic devices. IEEE J. Photovolt. 9(6), 1602–1613 (2019)

30 Chen, W., Gao, P., Zhou, L., Shi, L.H., Wang, D.W., Hao, R., Ye, J., Yin, W.Y., Li, E.: Carrier dynamics of nanopillar textured ultrathin si film/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction solar cell. IEEE J. Photovolt. 8(3), 757–762 (2018)

31 Kiziloglu, V., Selcen, T., Saritas, M.: Sizedependent intermediate band energy levels and absorption of bound states in box shaped quantum dots. In: Proceedings of 2018 International Conference on Photovoltaic Science and Technologies (PVCon). pp. 1–4 (2018)

32 Kim, S.H., Man, M.T., Lee, J.W., Park, K.D., Lee, H.S.: Influence of size and shape anisotropy on optical properties of CdSe quantum dots. Nanomaterials 10(8), 1589(2020)