Graphene for Si-based solar cells

In this paper, we report on the single layer graphene synthesis to establish the growth conditions and improve the opto-electronic properties that can be employed in silicon based heterojunction solar cells. To do this, the effect of hydrogen and methane flow on the graphene growth on copper foil in a CVD system was investigated. The analyses were conducted by changing either the hydrogen or the methane flow by keeping all the other growth parameters constant. Single layer graphene growth recipe was established in order to have the optimum optical transmission and sheet resistance values via amending the graphene growth conditions. It was found that the sheet resistance values of the single layer graphene should be lowered further to be used as transparent conductive electrode. However, the combination of graphene with indium tin oxide film functioned well as transparent conductive electrode in the silicon based the solar cells. Additionally, the cell efficiency increased by about 10% as a result of incorporating it with the single layer graphene. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.