Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells

Metzger, Wyatt K.; Grover, Sachit; Lu, Donghua; Colegrove, Eric; Moseley, John; Perkins, Craig L.; Li, X.; Mallick, Rajni; Zhang, W.; Malik, R. J.; Kephart, Jason M.; Jiang, C.-S.; Kuciauskas, Darius; Albin, David S.; Al‐Jassim, Mowafak; Xiong, Gang; Gloeckler, Markus

doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0446-7

Cited by 263 publications

(181 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The PV market is currently dominated by silicon, but thin‐film PV can have a potentially lower cost at comparable efficiency. Direct‐bandgap thin‐film PV materials, especially CdTe, have superior temperature and spectral coefficients, and they have demonstrated low degradation . For CdTe solar cells, higher efficiency targets can be met if sources of nonradiative recombination can be identified and minimized.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…CL spectrum imaging (spectrum‐per‐pixel CL imaging) and backscatter electron imaging data are shown in Figure . CL measurements were carried out at room temperature with a JEOL 7600F scanning electron microscope and a Horiba HCLUE CL system . The sample surface was ion milled with a glancing angle (5°) Ar + beam to reduce surface roughness, which can create topographic artifacts in CL images.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Radiative Efficiency and Charge‐Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Kuciauskas

Moseley

Ščajev

et al. 2019

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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CdTe‐based photovoltaics is a rapidly developing energy technology with one of the lowest levelized costs of electricity. But nonradiative Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) recombination limits the efficiency of CdTe solar cells. Partial mitigation of bulk and grain‐boundary SRH recombination was achieved by alloying CdTe with Se, and CdSexTe1−x absorbers are used in high‐efficiency solar cells. Recently, interface recombination was significantly reduced with alumina passivation, but other properties of Al2O3/CdSexTe1−x/Al2O3 heterostructures have not yet been investigated. Herein, further progress in understanding and developing polycrystalline heterostructures with x = 0.2 is reported. It is shown that external photoluminescence quantum yield is increased to 0.2%, quasi‐Fermi‐level splitting to 950 mV, minority carrier lifetimes to 750 ns, and mobility to 100 cm2 Vs−1. Such polycrystalline CdSexTe1−x electronic characteristics match or exceed CdTe single‐crystal properties. The resulting charge‐carrier diffusion length of ≈14 μm is several times greater than the absorber thickness in test structures and in typical CdTe solar cells. Herein, with passivation and absorbers, polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cell open‐circuit voltage is increased from the current 76% of the Shockley–Queisser limit to 82%, or close to 1 V is reported.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Radiative Efficiency and Charge‐Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Kuciauskas

Moseley

Ščajev

et al. 2019

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

Self Cite

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“…Defects at GBs in the polycrystalline thin films are unavoidable, and they play a critical role in optoelectronic properties as previously reported for GaAs, [ 17–19 ] CdTe, [ 20,21 ] poly‐Si, [ 22 ] and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). [ 21,23 ] This is due to the significantly changed charge carrier dynamics by the vacancies, interstitials, distorted bond angles and bond distances at the GBs.…”

Section: The Impacts Of Gbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress on Interface Engineering for High‐Performance, Stable Perovskites Solar Cells

Zhu

Poddar

Shu

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Inter

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Rapid progress in the domain of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has boosted the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of such cells to 25.2%. However, the long‐term stability of a high‐performance PSCs is still the foremost concern that hinders its practical application. The interfaces are considered as the key part that determines the overall device performance and longevity. These interfaces include the intralayer grain boundaries (GBs) inside the perovskites, the interface between perovskites with electron/hole transport layer (ETL/HTL), and the interface of ETL/HTL with top/down contacts. To acquire a deep and detailed understanding of the impacts of interfacial properties, herein, a concise overview of recent interfacial engineering strategies with the aim of minimizing traps, promoting carrier extraction, and improving stability are summarized.

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“…Group V element (e.g., As and P) doping, as an alternative to Cu doping for the desired long-time stability, has recently attracted intensive investigations. [7][8][9] However, limited by the high capital costs of the equipment used for the in-situ doping and low effective doping level for the ex situ doping (due to aggregations at grain boundaries), group V doping has not been widely used by the researchers [7,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CuSCN as the Back Contact for Efficient ZMO/CdTe Solar Cells

Song

Bista

et al. 2020

Materials

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The replacement of traditional CdS with zinc magnesium oxide (ZMO) has been demonstrated as being helpful to boost power conversion efficiency of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells to over 18%, due to the reduced interface recombination and parasitic light absorption by the buffer layer. However, due to the atmosphere sensitivity of ZMO film, the post treatments of ZMO/CdTe stacks, including CdCl2 treatment, back contact deposition, etc., which are critical for high-performance CdTe solar cells became crucial challenges. To realize the full potential of the ZMO buffer layer, plenty of investigations need to be accomplished. Here, copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) is demonstrated to be a suitable back-contact material with multi-advantages for ZMO/CdTe solar cells. Particularly, ammonium hydroxide as the solvent for CuSCN deposition shows no detrimental impact on the ZMO layer during the post heat treatment. The post annealing temperature as well as the thickness of CuSCN films are investigated. Finally, a champion power conversion efficiency of 16.7% is achieved with an open-circuit voltage of 0.857 V, a short-circuit current density of 26.2 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 74.0%.

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Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells

Cited by 263 publications

References 75 publications

Radiative Efficiency and Charge‐Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Radiative Efficiency and Charge‐Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Recent Progress on Interface Engineering for High‐Performance, Stable Perovskites Solar Cells

CuSCN as the Back Contact for Efficient ZMO/CdTe Solar Cells

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