Polyaniline on crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

Organic/inorganic heterojunction solar cells were fabricated on the (100) face of n-type silicon crystals using acid-doped polyaniline (PANI) with widely varying conductivities. For films with conductivities below 10−1S∕cm, the open-circuit voltage VOC increases with increasing film conductivity as expected when VOC is limited by the work function of the film. Extrapolation of these results to the higher conductivity films indicates that PANI could support VOC of 0.7V or larger. VOC measurements for the cells with higher conductivity PANI saturated at 0.51V. We speculate that uncontrolled surface states at the PANI/Si interface are reducing these values.