A statistics modeling approach for the optimization of thin film photovoltaic devices

Vicente, António; Wójcik, P.; Mendes, Manuel J.; Águas, Hugo; Fortunato, Elvira; Martins, Rodrigo

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2017.01.029

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…[51,52] The simulated structure was based in the dimensions of the solar cells: ZnO thickness of 440 nm; CdS 70 nm; CIGS 350 nm; MoSe 2 25 nm or Al 2 O 3 18 nm; Mo 350 nm, [53] in agreement with the TEM image of Figure 2. The computations were performed with a finite difference time domain (FDTD) mesh-based solver, as discussed further elsewhere.…”

Section: Optical Simulationssupporting

confidence: 56%

Passivation of Interfaces in Thin Film Solar Cells: Understanding the Effects of a Nanostructured Rear Point Contact Layer

Salomé

Vermang

Ribeiro‐Andrade

et al. 2017

Adv Materials Inter

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110

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Thin film solar cells based in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) are among the most efficient polycrystalline solar cells, surpassing CdTe and even polycrystalline silicon solar cells. For further developments, the CIGS technology has to start incorporating different solar cell architectures and strategies that allow for very low interface recombination. In this work, ultrathin 350 nm CIGS solar cells with a rear interface passivation strategy are studied and characterized. The rear passivation is achieved using an Al2O3 nanopatterned point structure. Using the cell results, photoluminescence measurements, and detailed optical simulations based on the experimental results, it is shown that by including the nanopatterned point contact structure, the interface defect concentration lowers, which ultimately leads to an increase of solar cell electrical performance mostly by increase of the open circuit voltage. Gains to the short circuit current are distributed between an increased rear optical reflection and also due to electrical effects. The approach of mixing several techniques allows us to make a discussion considering the different passivation gains, which has not been done in detail in previous works. A solar cell with a nanopatterned rear contact and a 350 nm thick CIGS absorber provides an average power conversion efficiency close to 10%.

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Section: Optical Simulationssupporting

confidence: 56%

Passivation of Interfaces in Thin Film Solar Cells: Understanding the Effects of a Nanostructured Rear Point Contact Layer

Salomé

Vermang

Ribeiro‐Andrade

et al. 2017

Adv Materials Inter

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110

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“…Silicon remains the material of choice for PV owing to its favorable electro-optical properties, excellent reliability/durability, and high abundance ( Polman et al., 2016 , Vicente et al., 2017a ). Thin-film Si cells are attractive due to their potential to be bendable and lightweight.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the rigidity of a layer scales with the third power of its thickness, the ultra-thin (100-nm) a-Si absorber considered here is envisaged for highly flexible devices. Such 100-nm layer can be 27 times more flexible than a layer with the conventional thickness (∼300 nm) used in standard single-junction a-Si cells ( Grandidier et al., 2012 , Morawiec et al., 2014 , Mendes et al., 2015 , Vicente et al., 2017a ), which is also considered here. Another advantage of scaling down the active layer thickness, particularly in amorphous materials, is that the carrier transport loss can be significantly decreased.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal-Enhanced Solar Cell Ultra-thinning with Broadband Nanophotonic Light Capture

et al. 2018

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SummaryRecent trends in photovoltaics demand ever-thin solar cells to allow deployment in consumer-oriented products requiring low-cost and mechanically flexible devices. For this, nanophotonic elements in the wave-optics regime are highly promising, as they capture and trap light in the cells' absorber, enabling its thickness reduction while improving its efficiency. Here, novel wavelength-sized photonic structures were computationally optimized toward maximum broadband light absorption. Thin-film silicon cells were the test bed to determine the best performing parameters and study their optical effects. Pronounced photocurrent enhancements, up to 37%, 27%, and 48%, respectively, in ultra-thin (100- and 300-nm-thick) amorphous, and thin (1.5-μm) crystalline silicon cells are demonstrated with honeycomb arrays of semi-spheroidal dome or void-like elements patterned on the cells' front. Also importantly, key advantages in the electrical performance are anticipated, since the photonic nano/micro-nanostructures do not increase the cell roughness, therefore not contributing to recombination, which is a crucial drawback in state-of-the-art light-trapping approaches.

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“…While optoelectronic modelling of standard photovoltaic materials and architectures has been thoroughly reported and extensively studied, 15,16 novel materials, such as hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) used in this work, have yet to see much modelling research. This can be chiefly attributed to several abnormal behaviors observed in these materials, such as the J-V hysteresis (i.e.…”

Section: All-thin-film Perovskite/c-si Four-mentioning

confidence: 99%

All-Thin-Film Perovskite/C–Si Four-Terminal Tandems: Interlayer and Intermediate Contacts Optimization

Chapa

Alexandre

Mendes

et al. 2019

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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Combined perovskite/crystalline-silicon 4-Terminal tandem solar cells promise >30% efficiencies. Here we propose all-thin-film double-junction architectures where high-bandgap perovskite top cells are coupled to ultra-thin c-Si bottom cells enhanced with light-trapping. A complete optoelectronic model of the devices was developed and applied to determine the optimal intermediate layers, which are paramount to maximize the cells' photocurrent. It was ascertained that, by replacing the transparent conductive oxides by grid-based metallic contacts in the intermediate positions, the parasitic absorption is lowered by 30%. Overall, a 29.2% efficiency is determined for ~2um thick tandems composed of the optimized interlayers and improved with Lambertian light-trapping.

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A statistics modeling approach for the optimization of thin film photovoltaic devices

Cited by 13 publications

References 52 publications

Passivation of Interfaces in Thin Film Solar Cells: Understanding the Effects of a Nanostructured Rear Point Contact Layer

Passivation of Interfaces in Thin Film Solar Cells: Understanding the Effects of a Nanostructured Rear Point Contact Layer

Optimal-Enhanced Solar Cell Ultra-thinning with Broadband Nanophotonic Light Capture

All-Thin-Film Perovskite/C–Si Four-Terminal Tandems: Interlayer and Intermediate Contacts Optimization

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