Deposition and application of a Mo–N back contact diffusion barrier yielding a 12.0% efficiency solution-processed CIGS solar cell using an amine–thiol solvent system

Uličná, Soňa; Arnou, Panagiota; Abbas, Ali; Togay, Mustafa; Welch, L. M.; Bliss, Martin; Malkov, Andrei V.; Walls, Michael; Bowers, Jake W.

doi:10.1039/c8ta12089g

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…(Bower's group at Lboro) studied the effects of absorber film delamination and high device series resistances due to thick MoSe 2 layers for en/EDT‐based CIGSe devices. [ 157 ] By implementing a Mo/Mo–N/Mo multilayer back contact, the authors were able to control and reduce the MoSe 2 layer thickness, achieving device PCEs of 12.1% (no ARC, total area) from molecular inks of Cu 2 S, In 2 S 3, and Ga+Se in en/EDT. Agrawal's group reported Cu, In, and Se complexes by individually dissolving elemental Cu, In, and Se in HA/EDT solutions and evaporating off the solvent solution at room temperature in a glove box.…”

Section: Protic Solvents With Shmentioning

confidence: 99%

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Suresh

Uhl

2021

Advanced Energy Materials

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Photovoltaic technologies offer a sustainable solution to the challenge of meeting increasing energy demands. Chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2, short CIGS—thin‐film solar cells—having intrinsically p‐type absorbers with a tunable direct bandgap—exhibits one of the highest stabilized power conversion efficiencies of 23.35%, utilizing absorbers typically fabricated via vacuum deposition methods. Research is increasingly devoted to absorbers deposited by solution processing techniques, which may inherently improve material usage, increase throughput, and lower financial barriers to commercialization. However, the performance of current devices with solution‐processed absorbers is still falling short of their vacuum‐processed counterparts with record power conversion efficiencies up to 18.7% reported to date. While hydrazine solvent‐based routes offer reduced residual impurities, their toxicity poses hindrances to widespread adoption. Alternatively, less toxic and environmentally friendly routes based on protic and aprotic solvents are being researched and are showing promising device efficiencies well above 14%. This review describes the current status of CIGS solar cell absorber layers fabricated by pure solution‐based deposition methods, provides a comparison of champion solution‐processed devices (with and without hydrazine), and offers an outlook for future improvements.

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Section: Protic Solvents With Shmentioning

confidence: 99%

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Suresh

Uhl

2021

Advanced Energy Materials

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“…The MoN x layer acts as a barrier layer to prevent excess MoSe 2 formation during selenization. 40 Finally a very thin layer of molybdenum (B50 nm) was deposited to act as a sacrificial layer to form the small amount of MoSe 2 that is beneficial to cell performance. The total Mo/MoN x /Mo stack was approximately 1 mm thick.…”

Section: Deposition Of Molybdenum Back Contact and Monmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution processed CZTS solar cells using amine–thiol systems: understanding the dissolution process and device fabrication

et al. 2020

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“…The solution‐processing method presented in our as well as other groups' previous work is a very promising approach which takes the benefits of the hydrazine method but using a safer and more environmentally friendly solvent system 10–13 . This approach consists of dissolving metal chalcogenides in 1,2‐ethylenediamine/1,2‐ethanedithiol (EDA/EDT) and was shown to result in devices with 12.05% power conversion efficiency ( PCE ) prepared by a scalable spray‐coating technique in ambient conditions 14 . This binary amine‐thiol solvent mixture discovered in 2013 by Brutchey and Webber was found to have the ability to dissolve over 65 bulk inorganic materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sodium doping of solution‐processed amine‐thiol based CIGS solar cells by thermal evaporation of NaCl

Uličná

Welch

Abbas

et al. 2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Poor crystallinity, high degree of porosity and rough surfaces are the main drawbacks of solution‐processed CIGS absorbers resulting in lower power conversion efficiencies when compared to vacuum‐based CIGS solar cells. Therefore, promoting absorber grain growth is key to further improve solution‐based solar cell performance. The effect of alkali elements such as Na in CIGS absorbers is generally recognised to have beneficial effects not only on the absorber opto‐electronic properties but also on the grain growth. In this work, thermal evaporation of a thin layer of NaCl prior to selenisation resulted in absorbers with significantly larger CIGS grains than previously seen with Na diffusing directly from the from soda‐lime glass substrate. NaCl is non‐toxic, abundant and readily available compound that has not been typically used as an evaporation source, but rather as an additive into CIGS precursor solution. The effect of Na on these solution‐processed CIGS devices was primarily observed in the spectacular morphological changes leading to improved carrier collection and minority carrier lifetimes, but less on the absorber doping. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed voids forming around large CIGS grains upon NaCl addition and these had a negative effect on inter‐grain carrier transport. Nonetheless, the resulting device performance doubled from 5% to 10% with addition of Na using this doping approach; however, a compromise between the optimum grain growth and optimum electronic properties had to be made. This study demonstrates a novel, simple and effective Na‐doping strategy for CIGS absorbers and reveals the current limitations of the Na‐doping in solution‐processed atmospherically deposited cells.

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Deposition and application of a Mo–N back contact diffusion barrier yielding a 12.0% efficiency solution-processed CIGS solar cell using an amine–thiol solvent system

Abstract: The use of a Mo–N barrier for solution-processed CIGS results in reduced MoSe2 formation. This enabled longer selenization time, enhanced grain growth and performance.

Cited by 25 publications

References 38 publications

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Solution processed CZTS solar cells using amine–thiol systems: understanding the dissolution process and device fabrication

Sodium doping of solution‐processed amine‐thiol based CIGS solar cells by thermal evaporation of NaCl

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Deposition and application of a Mo–N back contact diffusion barrier yielding a 12.0% efficiency solution-processed CIGS solar cell using an amine–thiol solvent system

Abstract: The use of a Mo–N barrier for solution-processed CIGS results in reduced MoSe2 formation. This enabled longer selenization time, enhanced grain growth and performance.

Cited by 25 publications

References 38 publications

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 Solar Cell Absorbers

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 Solar Cell Absorbers

Solution processed CZTS solar cells using amine–thiol systems: understanding the dissolution process and device fabrication

Sodium doping of solution‐processed amine‐thiol based CIGS solar cells by thermal evaporation of NaCl

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Product

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Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Present Status of Solution‐Processing Routes for Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ Solar Cell Absorbers