Thin-film silicon solar cells fabricated at low temperature: A versatile technology for application on transparent flexible plastic substrates and in integrated photoelectrochemical water splitting modules

Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells in p-i-n configuration were developed at a low deposition temperature of 140 °C, suitable for application on transparent flexible plastic substrates. Deteriorated electronic properties of the p-layer with decreasing temperature were identified as the main reason for reduced solar cell performance. Optimization of the p-layer properties resulted in an efficiency of 8.2 % for a solar cell fabricated entirely at 140 °C. As a parallel application scenario, a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cells are designed for application in integrated photoelectrochemical water splitting modules. Here we benefit from the increased open circuit voltages with values around 1.9 V which provides ample margin for possible overpotential losses in water splitting modules.