Optimization of SiO2-TiO2 nanocomposite in hole-transporting layer (PEDOT:PSS) for enhanced performance of planar Si-based hybrid solar cells

Silica (SiO2) and titania (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been separately known to aid in the enhancement of hybrid solar cell performance when embedded in the organic poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer. Individually, these materials only enhance the short circuit current density (J(SC)) or the open-circuit voltage (V-OC) of the device. In this research, we have introduced strategically designed nanocomposite (NC) of SiO2 and TiO2 NPs optimally embedded in the PEDOT:PSS hole transporting layer with a facile yet effective method to better enhance the J(SC) as well as the V-OC and thus the overall performance of the hybrid solar cell by their synergistic effect. Various characterization techniques have been implemented to evaluate the synthesized materials as well as the fabricated device performance. The resultant optimal device with SiO2--TiO2 NC embedment provided an efficiency of 10.27% boosted from 8.21% for the reference device without the NC. The J(SC), V-OC, and fill factor values for the resultant device were boosted from 25.8 to 26.3 mA.cm(-2), 0.56 to 0.58 V, and 56.8 to 67.5%, respectively. Our work demonstrates the elusive challenges to improve the efficiency of solar cells for new era technology.

Automated summary

Embedding SiO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles in the PEDOT:PSS layer can enhance the performance of hybrid solar cells by synergistically improving J(SC) and V-OC.