Nanostructure of Porous Si and Anodic SiO Surface Passivation for Improved Efficiency Porous Si Solar Cells.

The photovoltaic effect in the anodic formation of silicon dioxide (SiO) on porous silicon (PS) surfaces was investigated toward developing a potential passivation technique to achieve high efficiency nanostructured Si solar cells. The PS layers were prepared by electrochemical anodization in hydrofluoric acid (HF) containing electrolyte. An anodic SiO layer was formed on the PS surface via a bottom-up anodization mechanism in HCl/HO solution at room temperature.