Exploring Cu-Doping for Performance Improvement in Sb2Se3 Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Spaggiari, Giulia; Bersani, Danilo; Calestani, Davide; Gilioli, E.; Gombia, E.; Mezzadri, Francesco; Casappa, Michele; Pattini, F.; Trevisi, Giovanna; Rampino, Stefano

doi:10.3390/ijms232415529

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Several studies have documented an increase in carrier concentration by doping Cu into Sb 2 Se 3 films. [39,40] It is widely known that Cu has a small atomic radius, making it easy to diffuse into many Figure 8 presents the J-V curves of devices with four kinds of back contacts. The 30 nm Sb 2 Se 3 /3 nm Cu/Au device exhibited a higher V OC and efficiency compared to the traditional 3 nm Cu/Au device.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have documented an increase in carrier concentration by doping Cu into Sb 2 Se 3 films. [ 39,40 ] It is widely known that Cu has a small atomic radius, making it easy to diffuse into many semiconductor materials. In this study, a dual back contact composed of a Sb 2 Se 3 /Cu composite structure was employed and we attempted to diffuse Cu into the Sb 2 Se 3 film by annealing treatment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts

Liu

Wang

Huang

et al. 2023

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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The barrier at CdTe/metal interface severely limits the efficiency of CdTe photovoltaic devices. In this study, the effectiveness of a thermally evaporated Sb2Se3 buffer layer as a back contact in CdTe solar cells is investigated, revealing a significant enhancement in device performance. Through optimization of the Sb2Se3 thickness, a remarkable increase in the open‐circuit voltage (VOC) to 804 mV is achieved, leading to a substantial efficiency improvement of 12.84% when compared to the Au‐only back contact device. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals a well‐matched energy band alignment at CdTe/Sb2Se3 interface, confirming favorable conditions for hole transport. To further enhance the device performance, Cu doping is implemented in the Sb2Se3 film, resulting in additional improvements to the VOC and FF of the Cu‐doped configuration to 819 mV and 72.35%, respectively, while also enhancing the overall efficiency to 14.3%.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have documented an increase in carrier concentration by doping Cu into Sb 2 Se 3 films. [ 39,40 ] It is widely known that Cu has a small atomic radius, making it easy to diffuse into many semiconductor materials. In this study, a dual back contact composed of a Sb 2 Se 3 /Cu composite structure was employed and we attempted to diffuse Cu into the Sb 2 Se 3 film by annealing treatment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts

Liu

Wang

Huang

et al. 2023

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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“…Sb 2 Se 3 -based thin film solar cell investigated in this study was an under-development (noncommercial) lab-scale sample − prepared by first depositing a soda-lime commercial glass with a 600–650 nm thick FTO conductive oxide layer followed by the deposition of the following layers on top: (i) 1 μm thick Sb 2 Se 3 layer deposited by low-temperature pulsed electron beam deposition (PEBS-20 commercial source, supplied by Neocera Inc., MD, USA, at 16 kV discharge voltage and 9 Hz pulse repetition in 3 × 10 –3 mbar Ar), (ii) 100 nm thick CdS layer deposited by chemical bath deposition at 80 °C, (iii) 150 nm thick layer of undoped ZnO, and (iv) 800 nm thick layer of Al-doped ZnO, both deposited by RF Magnetron Sputtering (Angstrom Sciences, room-temperature, 120 W, 10 –3 mbar Ar). The solar cell was cut into thin slices for cross-sectional analysis.…”

Section: Experimental Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale Chemical Analysis of Thin Film Solar Cell Interfaces Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Bienz,

Spaggiari,

Calestani

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Interfacial regions play a key role in determining the overall power conversion efficiency of thin film solar cells. However, the nanoscale investigation of thin film interfaces using conventional analytical tools is challenging due to a lack of required sensitivity and spatial resolution. Here, we surmount these obstacles using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) and apply it to investigate the absorber (Sb 2 Se 3 ) and buffer (CdS) layers interface in a Sb 2 Se 3 -based thin film solar cell. Hyperspectral TERS imaging with 10 nm spatial resolution reveals that the investigated interface between the absorber and buffer layers is far from uniform, as TERS analysis detects an intermixing of chemical compounds instead of a sharp demarcation between the CdS and Sb 2 Se 3 layers. Intriguingly, this interface, comprising both Sb 2 Se 3 and CdS compounds, exhibits an unexpectedly large thickness of 295 ± 70 nm attributable to the roughness of the Sb 2 Se 3 layer. Furthermore, TERS measurements provide compelling evidence of CdS penetration into the Sb 2 Se 3 layer, likely resulting from unwanted reactions on the absorber surface during chemical bath deposition. Notably, the coexistence of ZnO, which serves as the uppermost conducting layer, and CdS within the Sb 2 Se 3 -rich region has been experimentally confirmed for the first time. This study underscores TERS as a promising nanoscale technique to investigate thin film inorganic solar cell interfaces, offering novel insights into intricate interface structures and compound intermixing.

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“…More details can be found in refs. 3,4 . *carlo.desanti@unipd.it; phone +39 049 827 7924; fax +39 049 827 7699;…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antimony selenide solar cells: non-ideal deep level response and study of trap-filling transients

De Santi,

Barrantes,

Piva

et al. 2024

Physics, Simulation, and Photonic Engineering of Photovoltaic Devices XIII

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In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of capacitance-based defect characterization techniques on antimony selenide solar cells. Based on capacitance deep level transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS) measurements, we detect two majority carrier traps; however, the common rate window analysis method is not able to provide physically valid values of the activation energy and apparent capture cross-section. In order to understand this effect, we carried out an extensive analysis based on the exponential fit method. We provide experimental evidence that (i) the Arrhenius plot extracted by the rate window analysis is not reliable, since the variation in capacitance transient amplitude is not caused by the variation in time constant of the exponential transient. This is because (ii) the amplitude of the capacitance transient is related to the amount of trapped charge, which changes significantly with temperature due to a temperature-assisted injection process, as confirmed by capacitance transient measurements carried out in the filling phase. Moreover, analysis of the transients with different filling time shows (iii) an additional contribution by minority carriers injected by the n-side of the junction. All the results are (iv) confirmed by analysis at various filling voltage.

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Exploring Cu-Doping for Performance Improvement in Sb2Se3 Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Cited by 9 publications

References 46 publications

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts

Nanoscale Chemical Analysis of Thin Film Solar Cell Interfaces Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Antimony selenide solar cells: non-ideal deep level response and study of trap-filling transients

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Exploring Cu-Doping for Performance Improvement in Sb2Se3 Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Cited by 9 publications

References 46 publications

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb2Se3 Back Contacts

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb2Se3 Back Contacts

Nanoscale Chemical Analysis of Thin Film Solar Cell Interfaces Using Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Antimony selenide solar cells: non-ideal deep level response and study of trap-filling transients

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Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts

Enhanced Performance of CdTe Solar Cells with Sb₂Se₃ Back Contacts