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P-N junction

P-N junction

A p-n junction is formed when p-type and n-type semiconductor materials are joined together. At the interface of the p-n junction, holes from the p-side and electrons from the n-side begin to diffuse into the opposite sides due to the concentration gradient. This diffusion of carriers leads to a region around the junction where there are no free charge carriers, known as the depletion region. The charge density within the depletion region for the n-side and p-side can be described by the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Improved Heterojunction Quality in Cu2O-based Solar Cells Through the Optimization of Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposited Zn1-xMgxO

Improved Heterojunction Quality in Cu2O-based Solar Cells Through the Optimization of Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposited Zn1-xMgxO

Published on: July 31, 2016

Solid-state colloidal CuInS₂ quantum dot solar cells enabled by bulk heterojunctions.

D So¹, S Pradhan¹, G Konstantatos²

¹ICFO, Institute of Photonic Sciences, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels 08860, Spain. gerasimos.konstantatos@icfo.es.

|October 8, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Colloidal copper indium sulfide (CIS) nanocrystals offer a safer alternative for quantum dot solar cells. A bulk heterojunction design significantly boosted device performance to 1.16% power conversion efficiency by reducing recombination.

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Developing High Performance GaP/Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

Developing High Performance GaP/Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

Published on: November 16, 2018

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Renewable Energy

Background:

Colloidal copper indium sulfide (CIS) nanocrystals (NCs) are explored as lead- and cadmium-free absorbers for quantum dot solar cells.
Initial heterojunction devices with TiO2 exhibited low power conversion efficiency (PCE) below 0.30% due to poor charge transport and recombination.

Purpose of the Study:

To enhance the performance of CIS-based quantum dot solar cells.
To investigate the impact of device architecture on charge dynamics and efficiency.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of solar cells using CIS NCs and TiO2.
Comparison of bilayer versus bulk heterojunction architectures.
Analysis of device performance metrics including PCE, photocurrent, fill factor, and internal quantum efficiency (IQE).
Characterization of charge recombination using ideality factor, photocurrent intensity dependence, and transient photocurrent/photovoltage measurements.

Main Results:

A bulk heterojunction architecture incorporating CIS NCs into a porous TiO2 network achieved a PCE of 1.16%.
This architecture led to a significant increase in short-circuit current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF).
A 10-fold increase in internal quantum efficiency (IQE) was observed, indicating reduced charge recombination.

Conclusions:

Transitioning from a bilayer to a bulk heterojunction architecture effectively minimizes trap-assisted recombination in CIS NC solar cells.
The improved device performance is attributed to enhanced charge extraction and reduced recombination pathways.
CIS NCs integrated into a bulk heterojunction represent a promising avenue for efficient and sustainable solar cell technology.