Fabrication and doping of silicon micropillar arrays for solar light harvesting

Silicon is a widely used material in the photovoltaic industry, and its advantageous properties and availability ensure that it can play an important role in the transition to a sustainable production of energy. Apart from already commercially available PV cells, silicon can also take part in new alternatives, such as solar-to-fuel (S2F) devices. However, before silicon can be used in such a device, it has to be altered to withstand different conditions, for example a water environment in case of a water splitting S2F device. Moreover, the structuring of silicon, e.g. into micropillar arrays, provides ways to enhance the performance of both PV and S2F devices. This thesis discusses the use of silicon as a base material for the structuring of solar cells, and their optimization and modification.