Tandem-structured, hot electron based photovoltaic cell with double Schottky barriers

We demonstrate a tandem-structured, hot electron based photovoltaic cell with double Schottky barriers. The tandem-structured, hot electron based photovoltaic cell is composed of two metal/semiconductor interfaces. Two types of tandem cells were fabricated using TiO2/Au/Si and TiO2/Au/TiO2, and photocurrent enhancement was detected. The double Schottky barriers lead to an additional pathway for harvesting hot electrons, which is enhanced through multiple reflections between the two barriers with different energy ranges. In addition, light absorption is improved by the band-to-band excitation of both semiconductors with different band gaps. Short-circuit current and energy conversion efficiency of the tandem-structured TiO2/Au/Si increased by 86% and 70%, respectively, compared with Au/Si metal/semiconductor nanodiodes, showing an overall solar energy conversion efficiency of 5.3%.