Graphene/Si Schottky solar cells: a review of recent advances and prospects

Abstract

Graphene has attracted tremendous interest due to its unique physical and chemical properties. The atomic thickness, high carrier mobility and transparency make graphene an ideal electrode material which can be applied to various optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes and photodetectors. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing graphene/silicon Schottky junction solar cells and the power conversion efficiency has reached up to 15.8% with an incredible speed. In this review, we introduce the structure and mechanism of graphene/silicon solar cells briefly, and then summarize several key strategies to improve the performance of the cells. Finally, the challenges and prospects of graphene/silicon solar cells are discussed in the development of the devices in detail.