In the current studies a miniature silicon wafer fuel cell(FC) using L-ascorbic acid as fuel was developed. The cell employs L-ascorbic acid and air as reactants and a thin polymer electrolyte as a separator. Inductiv...In the current studies a miniature silicon wafer fuel cell(FC) using L-ascorbic acid as fuel was developed. The cell employs L-ascorbic acid and air as reactants and a thin polymer electrolyte as a separator. Inductively coupled plasma(ICP) silicon etching was employed to fabricate high aspect-ratio columns on the silicon substrate to increase the surface area. A thin platinum layer deposited directly on the silicon surface by the sputtering was used as the catalyst layer for L-ascorbic acid electro-oxidation. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid on the sputtered platinum layer is irreversible and that the onset potentials for the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid are from 0.27 V to 0.35 V versus an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. It is found that at the room temperature,with 1 mol/L L-ascorbic acid/PBS(phosphate buffered solution) solution pumped to the anode at 1 ml/min flow rate and air spontaneously diffusing to the cathode as the oxidant,the maximum output power density of the cell was 1.95 mW/cm2 at a current density of 10 mA/cm2.展开更多
Hydrogenated doped silicon thin films deposited using RF (13.56 MHz) PECVD were studied in detail using micro Raman spectroscopy to investigate the impact of doping gas flow, film thickness, and substrate type on the ...Hydrogenated doped silicon thin films deposited using RF (13.56 MHz) PECVD were studied in detail using micro Raman spectroscopy to investigate the impact of doping gas flow, film thickness, and substrate type on the film characteristics. In particular, by deconvoluting the micro Raman spectra into amorphous and crystalline components, qualitative and quantitative information such as bond angle disorder, bond length, film stress, and film crystallinity can be determined. By selecting the optimum doped silicon thin film deposition conditions, and combining our p-doped and n-doped silicon thin films in different heterojunction structures, we demonstrate both (i) an efficient field effect passivation and (ii) further improvement to c-Si/a-Si:H(i) interface defect density with observed improvement in implied open-circuit voltage VOC and minority carrier lifetimes across all injections levels of interest. In particular, the heterojunction structure (a-Si:H(p)/a-Si:H(i)/c-Si(n)/a-Si:H(i)/a-Si:H(p)) demonstrates a minority carrier lifetime of 2.4 ms at an injection level of 1015 cm-3, and a high implied open-circuit voltage of 725 mV. Simulation studies reveal a strong dependence of the interface defect density Dit on the heterojunction silicon wafer solar cell performance, affected by the deposition conditions of the overlying doped silicon thin film layers. Using our films, and a fitted Dit of 5 × 1010 cm-2·eV-1, we demonstrate that a solar cell efficiency of ~22.5% can be potentially achievable.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30670535)the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (No. NCET-07-0752), China
文摘In the current studies a miniature silicon wafer fuel cell(FC) using L-ascorbic acid as fuel was developed. The cell employs L-ascorbic acid and air as reactants and a thin polymer electrolyte as a separator. Inductively coupled plasma(ICP) silicon etching was employed to fabricate high aspect-ratio columns on the silicon substrate to increase the surface area. A thin platinum layer deposited directly on the silicon surface by the sputtering was used as the catalyst layer for L-ascorbic acid electro-oxidation. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid on the sputtered platinum layer is irreversible and that the onset potentials for the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid are from 0.27 V to 0.35 V versus an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. It is found that at the room temperature,with 1 mol/L L-ascorbic acid/PBS(phosphate buffered solution) solution pumped to the anode at 1 ml/min flow rate and air spontaneously diffusing to the cathode as the oxidant,the maximum output power density of the cell was 1.95 mW/cm2 at a current density of 10 mA/cm2.
文摘Hydrogenated doped silicon thin films deposited using RF (13.56 MHz) PECVD were studied in detail using micro Raman spectroscopy to investigate the impact of doping gas flow, film thickness, and substrate type on the film characteristics. In particular, by deconvoluting the micro Raman spectra into amorphous and crystalline components, qualitative and quantitative information such as bond angle disorder, bond length, film stress, and film crystallinity can be determined. By selecting the optimum doped silicon thin film deposition conditions, and combining our p-doped and n-doped silicon thin films in different heterojunction structures, we demonstrate both (i) an efficient field effect passivation and (ii) further improvement to c-Si/a-Si:H(i) interface defect density with observed improvement in implied open-circuit voltage VOC and minority carrier lifetimes across all injections levels of interest. In particular, the heterojunction structure (a-Si:H(p)/a-Si:H(i)/c-Si(n)/a-Si:H(i)/a-Si:H(p)) demonstrates a minority carrier lifetime of 2.4 ms at an injection level of 1015 cm-3, and a high implied open-circuit voltage of 725 mV. Simulation studies reveal a strong dependence of the interface defect density Dit on the heterojunction silicon wafer solar cell performance, affected by the deposition conditions of the overlying doped silicon thin film layers. Using our films, and a fitted Dit of 5 × 1010 cm-2·eV-1, we demonstrate that a solar cell efficiency of ~22.5% can be potentially achievable.