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Scaled Deposition of Ti3C2 T x MXene on Complex Surfaces: Application Assessment as Rear Electrodes for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

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 electrode...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS nano 2022-02, Vol.16 (2), p.2419-2428
Main Authors: Aydin, Erkan, El-Demellawi, Jehad K, Yarali, Emre, Aljamaan, Faisal, Sansoni, Simone, Rehman, Atteq ur, Harrison, George, Kang, Jingxuan, El Labban, Abdulrahman, De Bastiani, Michele, Razzaq, Arsalan, Van Kerschaver, Emmanuel, Allen, Thomas G, Mohammed, Omar F, Anthopoulos, Thomas, Alshareef, Husam N, De Wolf, Stefaan
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary: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) Ti3C2 T x films (T x : surface functional groups, i.e., −OH, −O, −F) via an automated spray system. We employed these Ti3C2 T x 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 Ti3C2 T x -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.
ISSN:1936-0851
1936-086X
DOI:10.1021/acsnano.1c08871