Photovoltaics

     

  1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics and Solar Cells

As solar cell technology matures from an implementation standpoint, newer challenges are emerging to render the technology as economical as Silicon CMOS. There is an intense effort in the field to reduce the per module cost, largely by achieving a thinner substrate for light trapping in PV modules. Photovoltaics research in the Banerjee Lab focuses on flexible solar cells based on our unique kerfless exfoliation technique in creating ultrathin silicon foils. Simultaneously, we are also engaged in exploring novel material systems for their PV characteristics and integration into the mature PV technology.
Current topics include:

  • Large area CVD Graphene / Thin insulator / Silicon Schottky junction solar cells
  • Flexible HIT (Heterojunction with Thin Insulator) solar cells

Recent Publications:

  • Jaehyun Ahn, Harry Chou, and Sanjay K. Banerjee. Graphene-Al2O3 -silicon heterojunction solar cells on flexible silicon substrates. Journal of Applied Physics, 121(16):163105, April 2017. [DOI | http ]
  • Mohamed M. Hilali, Sayan Saha, Emmanuel Onyegam, Rajesh Rao, Leo Mathew, and Sanjay K. Banerjee. Light trapping in ultrathin 25 μm exfoliated Si solar cells. Applied Optics, 53(27):6140, September 2014. [ DOI | http ]
  • Emmanuel U. Onyegam, Dabraj Sarkar, Mohamed M. Hilali, Sayan Saha, Leo Mathew, Rajesh A. Rao, Ryan S. Smith, Dewei Xu, Dharmesh Jawarani, Ricardo Garcia, Moses Ainom, and Sanjay K. Banerjee. Realization of dual-heterojunction solar cells on ultra-thin ∼25 μm, flexible silicon substrates. Applied Physics Letters, 104(15):153902, April 2014. [ DOI | http ]
  • Sayan Saha, Mohamed M. Hilali, Emmanuel U. Onyegam, Sushant Sonde, Rajesh A. Rao, Leo Mathew, Ajay Upadhyaya, and Sanjay K. Banerjee. Improved Cleaning Process for Textured ∼25 μm Flexible Mono-Crystalline Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells with Metal Backing. ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol., 3(7):Q142-Q145, January 2014. [ DOI | http ]
  • S. Saha, R.A. Rao, L. Mathew, M. Ainom, and S.K. Banerjee. A novel low-cost method for fabricating bifacial solar cells. In Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th, pages 2268-2271, June 2013. [ DOI ]
  • E.U. Onyegam, W. James, R. Rao, L. Mathew, M. Hilali, and S.K. Banerjee. Amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells via Remote plasma chemical vapor deposition: Influence of hydrogen dilution, RF power, and sample Z-height position. In Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th, pages 1272-1276, June 2013. [ DOI ]
  • Sayan Saha, Mohamed M. Hilali, Emmanuel U. Onyegam, Dabraj Sarkar, Dharmesh Jawarani, Rajesh A. Rao, Leo Mathew, Ryan S. Smith, Dewei Xu, Ujjwal K. Das, Bhushan Sopori, and Sanjay K. Banerjee. Single heterojunction solar cells on exfoliated flexible ∼25 μm thick mono-crystalline silicon substrates. Applied Physics Letters, 102(16):163904, April 2013. [ DOI | http ]
  • E. U. Onyegam, D. Sarkar, M. Hilali, S. Saha, R. A. Rao, L. Mathew, D. Jawarani, J. Mantey, M. Ainom, R. Garcia, W. James, and S. K. Banerjee. Exfoliated, thin, flexible germanium heterojunction solar cell with record FF=58.1%. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 111:206-211, April 2013. [ DOI | http ]
  • Mohamed M. Hilali, Shuqiang Yang, Mike Miller, Frank Xu, Sanjay Banerjee, and S. V. Sreenivasan. Enhanced photocurrent in thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells via shape controlled three-dimensional nanostructures. Nanotechnology, 23(40):405203, 2012. [ DOI | http ]