Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published October 17, 2007 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

High Aspect Ratio Silicon Wire Array Photoelectrochemical Cells

Abstract

In an effort to develop low-cost solar energy conversion techniques, high uniformity vertically oriented silicon wire arrays have been fabricated. These arrays, which allow for radial diffusion of minority charge carriers, have been measured in a photoelectrochemical cell. Large photovoltages (∼400 mV) have been measured, and these values are significantly greater than those obtained from the substrate alone. Additionally, the wire array samples displayed much higher current densities than the underlying substrate, demonstrating that significant energy conversion was occurring due to the absorption and charge-carrier transport in the vertically aligned Si wires. This method therefore represents a step toward the use of collection-limited semiconductor materials in a wire array format in macroscopic solar cell devices.

Additional Information

© 2007 American Chemical Society. Received July 3, 2007. Publication Date (Web): September 25, 2007. This work was supported by BP and by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. This work was supported in part by the Center for Science and Engineering Materials, an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Caltech. We acknowledge T. Mallouk and J. Redwing of Penn State for helpful discussions and for providing a preprint of their work, done concurrently, on Si nanowire arrays.

Attached Files

Supplemental Material - ja074897csi20070910_021947.pdf

Files

ja074897csi20070910_021947.pdf
Files (5.0 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:bf32dc341ceedb96f8dd6d96714e035f
5.0 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023