Optoelectronic Evaluation and Loss Analysis of PEDOT: PSS/Si Hybrid Heterojunction Solar Cells

The organic/silicon (Si) hybrid heterojunction solar cells (HHSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their potential advantages in high efficiency and low cost. However, as a newly arisen photovoltaic device, its current efficiency is still much worse than commercially available Si solar cells. Therefore, a comprehensive and systematical optoelectronic evaluation and loss analysis on this HHSC is therefore highly necessary to fully explore its efficiency potential. Here, a thoroughly optoelectronic simulation is provided on a typical planar polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene): polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT: PSS)/Si HHSC. The calculated spectra of reflection and external quantum efficiency (EQE) match well with the experimental results in a full-wavelength range. The losses in current density, which are contributed by both optical losses (i. e., reflection, electrode shield, and parasitic absorption) and electrical recombination (i. e., the bulk and surface recombination), are predicted via carefully addressing the electromagnetic and carrier-transport processes. In addition, the effects of Si doping concentrations and rear surface recombination velocities on the device performance are fully investigated. The results drawn in this study are beneficial to the guidance of designing high-performance PEDOT: PSS/Si HHSCs.