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Graphene–semiconductor heterojunction sheds light on emerging photovoltaics

Nature Photonics volume 13, pages 312–318 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electronic coupling of graphene atop a bulk semiconductor and the resultant interfacial energy-band reorganization create a light-sensitive junction only one atom below the front surface. Uniquely, this architecture leads to the surface being in extremely close proximity to the depletion region (typically buried several micrometres under the surface for a conventional wafer-based p–n junction solar cell), thus providing direct access to the photosensitive junction, which can be modified by surface functionalization and/or incorporation of plasmonic nanoparticles. The surface-based heterojunction, tunable carrier transport and relatively enhanced optical absorption in such 2D-layer-interfaced 3D semiconductor systems will have a transformative impact in the field of 2D optoelectronics, photovoltaics, photonics and nanoelectronics.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of a graphene-on-semiconductor (Si) heterojunction photovoltaic cell.
Fig. 2: Graphene-on-semiconductor (n-Si) energy-band structure.
Fig. 3: Graphene/Si heterojunction photovoltaics.
Fig. 4: Graphene/III–V semiconductor heterojunction photovoltaics.

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Acknowledgements

S.K.B. and V.B. thank Dimerond Technologies, LLC for the support to conduct renewable energy research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. All the authors thank the University of Illinois at Chicago for the support. V.B. thanks funding support from the National Science Foundation (grant: 1054877) and the Office of Naval Research (grants: N000141110767 and N000141812583).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Sanjay K. Behura, Chen Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Sanjay K. Behura, Chen Wang, Yu Wen & Vikas Berry

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  1. Sanjay K. Behura
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Correspondence to Sanjay K. Behura or Vikas Berry.

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Behura, S.K., Wang, C., Wen, Y. et al. Graphene–semiconductor heterojunction sheds light on emerging photovoltaics. Nat. Photonics 13, 312–318 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0391-9

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