Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells

Baines, Tom; Zoppi, Guillaume; Bowen, Leon; Shalvey, Thomas P.; Mariotti, Silvia; Durose, K.; Major, Jonathan D.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2018.03.010

Cited by 111 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…It is well established in other technologies that surface modification prior to back contacting can lead to performance improvement, such as via the nitric-phosphoric acid, [15][16][17][18] bromine methanol [19], methyl ammonium iodide [20] or hydrogen iodide [21] etching step in CdTe solar cells. These etching steps often improve device characteristics through the creation of a Te-rich layer prior to back contacting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

et al. 2019

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The effect of (NH 4 ) 2 S and CS 2 chemical etches on surface chemistry and contacting in Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells was investigated via a combination of x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and photovoltaic device analysis. Thin film solar cells were produced in superstrate configuration with an absorber layer deposited by close space sublimation. Devices of up to 5.7% efficiency were compared via currentvoltage measurements (J-V ) and temperature-dependent current-voltage (J-V-T) analysis. XPS analysis demonstrated that both etching processes were successful in removing Sb 2 O 3 contamination, while there was no decrease in free elemental selenium content by either etch, in contrast to prior work. Using J-V-T analysis the removal of Sb 2 O 3 at the back surface in etched samples was found to improve contacting by reducing the potential barrier at the back contact from 0.43 eV to 0.26 eV and lowering the series resistance. However, J-V data showed that due to the decrease in shunt resistance and short-circuit current as a result of etching, the devices show a lower efficiency following both etches, despite a lowering of the series resistance. Further optimisation of the etching process yielded an improved efficiency of 6.6%. This work elucidates the role of surface treatments in Sb 2 Se 3 devices and resolves inconsistencies in previously published works.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

et al. 2019

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“…However, the inclusion of an HRT layer shows improvement on the uniformity and junction quality in a manner parallel to that found for CdTe [5,6], CuInSe2/CdS, and a-Si thin-film cells [7]. Several materials have already been tested for the HRT layer including the SnO2 [8], In2O3 [9], TiO2 [10], Ga2O3 [11], and Zn2SnO4 / ZnSnO3 (ZTO) [12]. Among the aforementioned HRT materials, the ZTO shows very promising for solar cell application because of its high carrier mobility (in the range of 5-20 cm 2 /Vs) [13], high optical transmittance (above 80% in the visible region) and resistivity ( ~10−20 Ω-cm) [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

et al. 2020

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In this study, the impact of compositional variation of highly resistivity transparent (HRT) metal oxide ZTO deposited by co-sputtered technique has been studied. The atomic composition has been tailored by the change of RF power and subsequent thermal oxygenation in mixed nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere. A phase transition from ZnSnO3 to ZnSnO4 was observed in the X-ray diffraction spectra, indicating the possible oxygen incorporation into the films during the thermal annealing process. Uniform microstructures with compact interconnected grains of around 6-7 nm were found in SEM images while no significant changes been observed upon oxygenation. Besides, the significant alteration of electronic properties was noticed as an effect of compositional variation via oxygenation. All the films showed above 85% of optical transmittance in the visible light spectrum. The optimum optoelectronic properties for RF power has been determined as of 50W (ZnO) and 10W (SnO2) via thermal oxygenation at 400 o C where the ratio O/(Zn+Sn) become around 1.6. The significant effect of oxygenation has been realized via primarily fabricated solar cells where the cell with ZnSnO4 HRT shows higher efficiency than the ZnSnO3.

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“…In order to improve the J sc , decreasing the thickness of the CdS layer has been adopted in close space sublimation (CSS)‐processed CdTe thin‐film solar cells, while too thin CdS layer would reduce effective electron extraction . Since Se atom has higher solubility in CdTe due to its similar size to Te atom than S atom and the formed CdSe x Te 1− x layer is photoactive during the annealing process, CdSe has been used to replace CdS as n‐type partner in CdTe NC solar cells . Thus the parasitic absorption in CdSe is decreased, which is beneficial to improve the device performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interface Engineering for Both Cathode and Anode Enables Low‐Cost Highly Efficient Solution‐Processed CdTe Nanocrystal Solar Cells

Rong

Guo

Lian

et al. 2019

Adv Funct Materials

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Low‐cost solution‐processed CdTe nanocrystal (NC) solar cells always suffer from a high interface energy barrier and unbalanced hole/electron transport as well as anisotropic atom diffusion on the CdTe surface due to the limited amount of hole/electron interface materials or the difficulty in interface processing. In this work, a novel strategy is first adopted with gradient electron transport layer (CdS/CdSe) modification in the cathode and a new crosslinkable hole transport polymer (P‐TPA) implantation in the anode. The carrier recombination at interfaces is greatly decreased and thus the carrier collection is increased. Moreover, the light harvesting is improved both in short and long wavelength regions, making Jsc and Voc increase simultaneously. A champion solar cell shows a very high power conversion efficiency of 9.2% and an outstanding Jsc of 25.31 mA cm−2, which are among the highest values for all solution‐processed CdTe NC solar cells with a superstrate structure, and the latter value is even higher than that of traditional thick CdTe thin‐film solar cells (2 µm) via the high temperature close space sublimation method. This work demonstrates that facile surface modifications in both the cathode and anode with stepped extraction and organic–inorganic hybridization are very promising in constructing next‐generation highly efficient NC photovoltaic devices.

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Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells

Cited by 111 publications

References 25 publications

Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

Interface Engineering for Both Cathode and Anode Enables Low‐Cost Highly Efficient Solution‐Processed CdTe Nanocrystal Solar Cells

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Incorporation of CdSe layers into CdTe thin film solar cells

Cited by 111 publications

References 25 publications

Chemical etching of Sb2Se3 solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

Chemical etching of Sb2Se3 solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

Interface Engineering for Both Cathode and Anode Enables Low‐Cost Highly Efficient Solution‐Processed CdTe Nanocrystal Solar Cells

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Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour

Chemical etching of Sb₂Se₃ solar cells: surface chemistry and back contact behaviour