High-Performance Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Crystalline Silicon

In recent years, organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells have raised great attention due to their simple fabrication processes and promising power conversion efficiency (PCE). Especially, the hybrid solar cells with crystalline silicon as light-to-electricity conversion material and conjugated organic thin films as charge carrier collection and transporting layers display the potential to further drive down the cost of silicon solar cells. However, several key scientific and technical issues involving both the organic and inorganic materials need to be addressed in order to achieve a stable high performance of hybrid solar cells based on crystalline silicon. The recent developments of silicon hybrid solar cells are reviewed, including the electrical and optical characteristics of organic materials commonly used in hybrid solar cells, the correlation between surface passivation condition and device performance, and the advantages of microscopic surface texturing on silicon wafers in high-performance hybrid photovoltaic (PV) devices. The prospect and limitation of hybrid solar cells are also discussed. Keywords: Conjugated polymer, crystalline silicon, hybrid solar cell, small molecule, surface passivation, surface texturing.