Investigation of solar cell carrier lifetime using photoconductance lifetime measurements

• Main Author: Lam, Sze Yin
• Other Authors: Rusli
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/74651
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In recent years, the amount of non-renewable sources of energy have been depleting and there is a burning need to find alternative sources to meet the world population’s needs. Therefore, renewable sources of energy are being actively researched on, especially solar energy. Solar cells have been actively researched on as a platform to provide solar energy, an alternative source of energy. Solar energy offers a clean, renewable source of power. In the recent years, there has been a significant interest in the study of lower cost inorganic/organic solar cells such as Si/PEDOT:PSS because of the high cost required to harness solar energy using conventional Si solar cells. Inorganic solar cells are known to have high carrier mobility while some advantages of organic solar cells include the low material cost, low temperature fabrication and solution-based process. Therefore, combining the benefits of both organic and inorganic solar cells help to not only produce more cost effective solar cells but also with potentially improved efficiency. My report investigated the quality of surface passivation of hybrid solar cells using photoconductance lifetime measurement methods. This is an important aspect to be studied that can lead to better efficiency for the hybrid solar cells. Through the study, the lifetime of carriers is investigated using photoconductance measurement results. An in-depth analysis of the results was conducted and correlated to the quality of the Si surface passivation using different materials that include native oxide, PEDOT:PSS and MoOx. Si/PEDOT:PSS was found to result in better results in terms of its power conversion efficiency. The efficiency is dependent on many factors such as open circuit voltage and minority carrier lifetime. Additionally, I have concluded a relationship between resistivity, open circuit voltage and minority carrier lifetime. Lastly, I also analyzed the effect of spin coating on open circuit voltage and minority carrier lifetime.