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. 2023 May 11;14(18):4322-4326.
doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00643. Epub 2023 May 3.

Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer as an Interfacial Dipole Modification in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Thomas Tom  1   2 , Eloi Ros  3 , Julian López-Vidrier  1   2 , José Miguel Asensi  1   2 , Pablo Ortega  3 , Joaquim Puigdollers  3 , Joan Bertomeu  1   2 , Cristobal Voz  3
Affiliations

Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer as an Interfacial Dipole Modification in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Thomas Tom et al. J Phys Chem Lett. .

Abstract

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers are used to modify the interface of metal-semiconductor junctions. The large number of protonated amines contributes to the formation of a dipole layer, which finally serves to form electron-selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells. By modification of the work function of the contacts, the addition of the PAMAM dendrimer interlayer quenches Fermi level pinning, thus creating an ohmic contact between the metal and the semiconductor. This is supported by the observation of a low contact resistivity of 4.5 mΩ cm2, the shift in work function, and the n-type behavior of PAMAM dendrimer films on the surface of crystalline silicon. A silicon heterojunction solar cell containing the PAMAM dendrimer interlayer is presented, which achieved a power conversion efficiency of 14.5%, an increase of 8.3% over the reference device without the dipole interlayer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) 3D molecular structure of the PAMAM G0 dendrimer: blue, nitrogen; gray, carbon; red, oxygen; and green, hydrogen. (b) Specific contact resistance for varying thickness of the PAMAM dendrimer as extracted from the TLM measurements. The inset displays the TLM contact schematics for the measurements.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) AFM image of the 1 nm thick PAMAM dendrimer film on c-Si (n) with RMS roughness of 0.09 nm. (b) Transmittance spectra of the same films on sapphire substrate, ranging from 200 to 1500 nm. The inset shows the corresponding Tauc plot, showing an optical band gap energy of 4.7 eV. (c) Analysis of the UPS spectra for the same films: work function. The UPS spectra corresponding to the reference c-Si (n) sample are displayed for the sake of comparison.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Energy band diagram corresponding to the Si/PAMAM dendrimer/Al heterojunction. (b) J–V characteristics of the PAMAM dendrimer-based solar cell (green) and the reference device without the PAMAM dendrimer interlayer (blue). The inset shows the architecture of the employed n-type silicon heterojunction cell integrated with a PAMAM dendrimer interlayer as the electron-selective contact.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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