Blown Bubble Assembly of Graphene Oxide Patches for Transparent Electrodes in Carbon-Silicon Solar Cells

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2015 Dec 30;7(51):28330-6. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b08646. Epub 2015 Dec 17.

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) sheets have a strong tendency to aggregate, and their interfaces can impose limitations on the electrical conductivity, which would hinder practical applications. Here, we present a blown bubble film method to assemble GO sheets with a uniform distribution over a large area and further interconnect individual GO sheets by transforming the bubble film into graphitized carbon. A conventional polymer was used to facilitate the bubble blowing process and disperse GO sheets in the bubble. Then, the bubble film was annealed on a Cu substrate, resulting in a highly transparent reduced GO (RGO)-carbon hybrid structure consisting of RGO patches well adhered to the carbon film. We fabricated RGO-carbon/Si solar cells with power conversion efficiencies up to 6.42%, and the assembled RGO patches hybridized with carbon film can form an effective junction with Si, indicating potential applications in thin film electronic devices and photovoltaics.

Keywords: blown bubble assembly; graphene oxide sheets; hybrid film; patches; solar cell; thermal annealing; transparent electrodes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't