Progress of Graphene-Silicon Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices

Solar cells fabricated with the most dominant material in industry, silicon (Si), developed rapidly in the recent years. Traditional Si solar cells require a complex process of fabricating junction. Thanks to its exotic electrical and optical properties, graphene (Gr) has attracted tremendous research interest in optoelectronic device applications, e.g., solar cells. The Gr/Si solar cell can be achieved by a simple room-temperature transfer technique, which exhibits great potential application in photovoltaics. Currently, many researchers focus on the strategies to dope the Gr for the cell efficiency improvement, from 1.65% to 16.2%. Although great progress has been made, there are still some key issues to be solved on the way to the commercialization of Gr/Si solar cells. Here, the recent progress in the development of Gr/Si solar cells is comprehensively reviewed, and the road map of Gr/Si solar cell techniques in the future is discussed.