Analysis for non-radiative recombination and resistance loss in chalcopyrite and kesterite solar cells

Yamaguchi, Masafumi; Tampo, Hitoshi; Shibata, Hajime; Lee, Kan‐Hua; Araki, Kiyomichi; Kojima, Nobuaki; Ohshita, Yoshio

doi:10.35848/1347-4065/abd536

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) has been considered as a promising candidate for photovoltaic applications owing to its optimal band gap, high absorption coefficient, and earth-abundant and nontoxic elemental components. − Although the record power conversion efficiency of CZTS solar cells has reached 11%, it is still far below the theoretical efficiency limit that can be as high as 32.4% according to the Shockley–Queisser theory . Generally, prolonging the charge carrier lifetime is critical for enhancing the operational efficiency of solar cells, whereas the presence of nonradiative electron–hole recombination that reduces the charge carrier lifetime is a major problem to overcome in order to achieve this goal . For solar cells, nonradiative recombination is the dominant pathway for charge and energy losses that occur by dissipating electronic energy to heat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Zhang

Hou

Jiang

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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We report a time-domain ab initio investigation of the nonradiative electron–hole recombination in quaternary Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) at different temperatures using a combination of time-dependent density functional theory and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics. Our results demonstrate that higher temperatures increase both inelastic and elastic electron–phonon interactions. Elevated temperatures moderately increase the lattice anharmonicity and cause stronger fluctuations of electronic energy levels, enhancing the electron–phonon coupling. The overall nuclear anharmonic effect is weak in CZTS, which can be ascribed to their stable bonding environment. Phonon-induced loss of electronic coherence accelerates with temperature, due to stronger elastic electron–phonon scattering. The enhanced inelastic electron–phonon scattering decreases charge carrier lifetimes at higher temperatures, deteriorating material performance in optoelectronic devices. The detailed atomistic investigation of the temperature-dependent charge carrier dynamics, with particular focus on anharmonic effects, guides the development of more efficient solar cells based on CZTS and related semiconductor photoabsorbers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Zhang

Hou

Jiang

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…b) Simulated contour of V OC versus minority carrier lifetime and carrier density with N IT ¼ 2 Â 10 11 cm À2. The gray area with high carrier density and high minority carrier lifetime is not achievable due to the radiative limit (FigureS10b, Supporting Information) [41]. c,d) The simulated contour of V OC versus interface defects and carrier density under CBO ¼ À0.2 eV and 0 V with an achievable minority carrier lifetime of 10 ns.…”

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confidence: 99%

Interface Recombination of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Solar Cells Leveraged by High Carrier Density and Interface Defects

Huang

et al. 2021

Solar RRL

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Pure-sulfide kesterite Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS)-based thin-film solar cell has been emerging as a promising cost-effective thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology, enjoying its Earth-abundant and ecofriendly constituents, thermodynamically stable structure, combined with the ideal bandgap perfectly matching with solar spectrum, and the compatibility with both rigid and flexible substrates. [1][2][3][4][5][6] These compelling features endow this PV technology huge potential for application of various scenes in the future, including wearable and portable PV power sources, building-integrated PVs (BIPVs) at curved building surfaces, and sustainable power sources for internet of things (IOT). [7,8] Moreover, pure-sulfide CZTS is also one of the most promising candidates as the top cell for silicon-based tandem solar cells, potentially triggering further technological evolution for largescale deployment of PV technologies. [9][10][11] Nevertheless, the current status of CZTS thin-film solar cells suffers from a much more open-circuit voltage (V OC ) loss than low-bandgap Cu 2 ZnSnS,Se 4 (CZTSSe) solar cells. [3,12,13] Besides the more severe bandgap/potential fluctuation and shorter photoluminescence (PL) decay time (related to real minority carrier lifetime), [14][15][16] the unfavorable "cliff"-like conduction band offset (CBO) at CZTS/CdS heterojunction interface is well believed to be a serious limiting factor to the V OC of CZTS solar cells. [17][18][19][20] To address this issue, alternative buffer materials with wide bandgap and a suitable conduction band edge have been screened, among which (Zn,Cd)S and (Zn,Sn)O are the most successful materials, allowing a great V OC boost up to 100 mV. [18,19] Nevertheless, the V OC of CZTS solar cells with a bandgap of 1.5 eV is still limited to be below 750 mV, far lower than that of the moderate CdTe solar cells with a similar recombination bandgap (1.45 eV) and low minority carrier lifetime (1À2 ns), let alone the "cliff"-like CBO at the CdTe/CdS interface. [21][22][23][24] Results of SunsÀV OC measurements for these cells configured with (Zn,Sn)O or (Zn,Cd)S buffer layer have revealed that J 02 (representing nonradiative recombination at the heterojunction region) is still 5 orders of magnitude larger than J 01 (representing nonradiative recombination in the quasineutral bulk region) (10 À7 A cm À2 for J 02 vs. 10 À12 A cm À2 for J 01 ). [18,19] This verifies that the V OC of pure-sulfide CZTS solar cells is still currently limited by nonradiative recombination in the heterojunction interface region, even though the unfavorable "cliff-like" CBO has been avoided, indicating that other important interface recombination mechanisms may persist and are yet to be properly recognized.

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“…In the calculation 3 for CIGSSe solar cells, following equations were used by using refs. [21,22] and by using 0.05 μm as thickness W

$$n_{\text{i}}^{2} \textrm{ } �? \textrm{ } 8.69 \times \left(10\right)^{36} \textrm{ } \left[\right.

…”

Section: Analytical Procedures For Estimating Losses and Efficiency P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the calculation 3 for CIGSSe solar cells, following equations were used by using refs. [21,22] and by using 0.05 μm as thickness W…”

Section: Analytical Procedures For Estimating Losses and Efficiency P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although efficiencies of GaAs and Si single-junction solar cells are approaching to the SQ limit, the other singlejunction solar cells have possibility of further efficiency improvements.Figure5shows chronological improvements in a) efficiency η, b) J sc , c) V oc , and d) FF relative to SQ limit for various singlejunction solar cells. Technological improvements for some single-junction solar cells are briefly overviewed based on some references for Si,[24] GaAs,[25,26] CdTe,[26] CIGSSe,[15,22,26,27] and perovskite[10,28] as the following.The first report of a modern Si solar cell in 1954 by Pearson, Fuller, and Chapin of Bell Laboratories[29] has shown about 4.5%. The first cells used Li diffusion into phosphorus-doped n-type Si but Li diffusion was soon replaced by boron diffusion because of increasing efficiency.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Overview and Perspective for High‐Efficiency Single‐Junction Solar Cells

et al. 2023

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Photovoltaic energy conversion is expected to contribute to creation of a clean energy society and high‐performance solar cells are very attractive for realizing such a vision. The development of high‐performance solar cells offers a promising pathway toward achieving high power per unit cost for many applications. Although state of the art of some of single‐junction solar cells are approaching the Shockley–Queisser limit of 32–33%, further improvements in efficiencies of solar cell and modules are thought to be possible. Herein, efficiency improvements in various single‐junction solar cells are overviewed in this article and several losses of high‐efficiency single‐junction solar cells are discussed about. Perspective of single‐junction solar cells from the viewpoint of practically feasible efficiency based on scientific and technological arguments is also presented. In addition, problems to be solved for solar cell modules are discussed.

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Analysis for non-radiative recombination and resistance loss in chalcopyrite and kesterite solar cells

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Interface Recombination of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Solar Cells Leveraged by High Carrier Density and Interface Defects

Overview and Perspective for High‐Efficiency Single‐Junction Solar Cells

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Analysis for non-radiative recombination and resistance loss in chalcopyrite and kesterite solar cells

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu2ZnSnS4Photoabsorbers

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu2ZnSnS4Photoabsorbers

Interface Recombination of Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cells Leveraged by High Carrier Density and Interface Defects

Overview and Perspective for High‐Efficiency Single‐Junction Solar Cells

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Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Weak Anharmonicity Rationalizes the Temperature-Driven Acceleration of Nonradiative Dynamics in Cu₂ZnSnS₄Photoabsorbers

Interface Recombination of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Solar Cells Leveraged by High Carrier Density and Interface Defects