Simulation of a-SiGe/c-Si solar cell with silicene front contact

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to utilize the two-dimensional (2D) structures of silicone (known as silicene) in the structure of solar cells. Its spectacular optical and electronic properties justify its application in solar structures. For this purpose, silicene was involved in the solar cell structure in 3 manners: as silicene1, an n-type semiconductor layer doped with P impurity; silicene2, a p-type semiconductor layer doped with Al; and as the free-standing silicene for the front contact. The former two applications were conducted in the ITO/silicene (1, 2)/\(\textrm{MoS}_2\) (n)/a-SiGe: H (i)/c-Si (P)/Au structure, while the latter was in the Silicene/\(\textrm{MoS}_2\) (n)/a-SiGe: H (i)/c-Si (P)/Au structure. Using the AFORS-HET software, the solar cells were exposed to AM1.5 spectrum radiation at 300 K temperature, and the impacts of 1 sun, 0.1 sun, and 10 sun illumination intensities were evaluated to obtain a better insight into the function of this 2D structure. The highest efficiencies in the mentioned illumination intensities were observed in the proposed cell with the silicene1 layer as the semiconductor, which were 18.96, 17.96, and 19.22%, respectively. Moreover, the efficiencies of the cell with free-standing silicene as the front contact were 27.13, 25.95, and 27.65%, respectively, in the mentioned illumination intensities.