Scaled Deposition of Ti3C2Tx MXene on Complex Surfaces: Application Assessment as Rear Electrodes for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

by Erkan Aydin, Jehad K. El-Demellawi, Emre Yarali, Faisal Aljamaan, Simone Sansoni, Atteq ur Rehman, George T. Harrison, Jingxuan Kang, Abdulrahman El-Labban, Michele De Bastiani, Arsalan Razzaq, Emmanuel Van Kerschaver, Thomas G. Allen, Omar F. Mohammed, Thomas D. Anthopoulos, Husam N. Alshareef, Stefaan De Wolf
Article Year: 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c08871

Bibliography

Aydin, E., K. El-Demellawi, J., Yarali, E., Aljamaan, F., Sansoni, S., Ur Rehman, A., Harrison, G., Kang, J., El Labban, A., De Bastiani, M., Razzaq, A., Van Kerschaver, E., G. Allen, T., F. Mohammed, O., Anthopoulos, T., N. Alshareef, H., De Wolf, S.

Extra Information

This work, which took place in ACS Nano, introduces the scalability potential of the highly conductive MXene films and assesses their applicability as rear electrodes for silicon heterojunction solar cells.

Abstract

Two-dimensional transition metal carbides (MXenes) are of great interest as electrode materials for a variety of applications, including solar cells, due to their tunable optoelectronic properties, high metallic conductivity, and attractive solution processability. However, thus far, MXene electrodes have only been exploited for lab-scale device applications. Here, to demonstrate the potential of MXene electrodes at an industry-relevant level, we implemented a scalable spray coating technique to deposit highly conductive (ca. 8000 S/cm, at a ca. 55 nm thickness) Ti3C2Tx films (Tx: surface functional groups, i.e., −OH, −O, −F) via an automated spray system. We employed these Ti3C2Tx films as rear electrodes for silicon heterojunction solar cells as a proof of concept. The spray-deposited MXene flakes have formed a conformal coating on top of the indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated random pyramidal textured silicon wafers, leading to >20% power conversion efficiency (PCE) over both medium-sized (4.2 cm2) and large (243 cm2, i.e., industry-sized 6 in. pseudosquare wafers) cell areas. Notably, the Ti3C2Tx-rear-contacted devices have retained around 99% of their initial PCE for more than 600 days of ambient air storage. Their performance is comparable with state-of-the-art solar cells contacted with sputtered silver electrodes. Our findings demonstrate the high-throughput potential of spray-coated MXene-based electrodes for solar cells in addition to a wider variety of electronic device applications.

Keywords

Uniform coatings Textured surfaces Cost-effective electrodes Large-area devices Industrial-size MXene