Nanostructured inorganic/polymer solar cells

The use of polymers in solar cells shows great promise for achieving high power-conversion efficiencies at low cost. Polymers have the distinct advantage of being easily solution-processable, while possibly having larger absorption coefficients than conventional inorganic semiconductors. Thus, small amounts of cheaply-processed polymer can be used to make inexpensive solar cells. However, polymers suffer from poor exciton (electron-hole pair) diffusion lengths which are significantly smaller than the typical thicknesses needed by polymers to absorb a large number of solar photons. While other solutions to this problem exist, one promising solution is the use of an ordered nanostructure comprising an inorganic-semiconductor scaffold with infiltrated polymer, which essentially facilitates strong absorption and efficient exciton harvesting concomitantly. Other advantages of such a nanostructure include improved charge extraction and greater control over charge transfer and other processes occurring at the semiconductor interface.; In this thesis, I first present an analysis supporting the need for cheaper solar cells, after which I provide the reader with relevant background on nanostructured inorganic/polymer solar cells. Next, I describe the fabrication process for making suitable nanostructures in silicon and hydrogenated amorphous-silicon (a-Si:H). Nanopillared a-Si:H can be directly used as a scaffold for making polymer-based, nanostructured solar cells. The complete device physics of the a-Si:H/polymer system is then studied. It is found that energy transfer can occur from the polymers to a-Si:H. The nanostructured devices are found to exhibit improved efficiency compared to planar (bilayer) devices. However, even higher efficiencies are expected on switching the scaffold material from a-Si:H to a non-absorber such as titania. The fabrication process for creating a nanostructured scaffold in titania, using soft-lithography, is then described. Solar cells made using the titania scaffold are indeed more efficient. Finally, I present some ideas for achieving power-conversion efficiencies > 5%. The appendix features a high-efficiency solar cell containing a polymer that does not absorb much light but performs other vital functions.