Monocrystalline CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage over 1 V and efficiency of 17%

Zhao, Yuan; Boccard, Mathieu; Shi, Liu; Becker, Jacob J.; Zhao, Xin; Campbell, Calli M.; Suarez, Ernesto; Lassise, Maxwell B.; Holman, Zachary C.; Zhang, Yong-Hang

doi:10.1038/nenergy.2016.67

Cited by 183 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…For example, high‐performance photodetectors based on a CdTe nanoribbon exhibited responsivity of 780 A W −1 , which is the optimal responsivity of CdTe photodetectors . Open‐circuit voltage of over 1 V and conversion efficiency of 17% were obtained in monocrystalline CdTe film solar cells . Moreover, 2D electron gas and the quantum hall effect at well‐defined interfaces of CdTe heterostructures such as PbTe/CdTe and HgTe/CdTe provide great potential for application in high‐electron‐mobility transistors .…”

Section: Comparison Of Vdwe Cdte Photodetectors and Other Photodetecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrahigh‐Detectivity Photodetectors with Van der Waals Epitaxial CdTe Single‐Crystalline Films

Lian

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2019

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Van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE) is crucial for heteroepitaxy of covalence‐bonded semiconductors on 2D layered materials because it is not subject to strict substrate requirements and the epitaxial materials can be transferred onto various substrates. However, planar film growth in covalence‐bonded semiconductors remains a critical challenge of vdWE because of the extremely low surface energy of 2D materials. In this study, direct growth of wafer‐scale single‐crystalline cadmium telluride (CdTe) films is achieved on 2D layered transparent mica through molecular beam epitaxy. The vdWE CdTe films exhibit a flat surface resulting from the 2D growth regime, and high crystal quality as evidenced by a low full width at half maximum of 0.05° for 120 nm thick films. A perfect lattice fringe appears at the interfaces, implying a fully relaxed state of the epitaxial CdTe films correlated closely to the unique nature of vdWE. Moreover, the vdWE CdTe photodetectors demonstrate not only ultrasensitive optoelectronic response with optimal responsivity of 834 A W−1 and ultrahigh detectivity of 2.4 × 1014 Jones but also excellent mechanical flexibility and durability, indicating great potential in flexible and wearable devices.

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Section: Comparison Of Vdwe Cdte Photodetectors and Other Photodetecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrahigh‐Detectivity Photodetectors with Van der Waals Epitaxial CdTe Single‐Crystalline Films

Lian

Zhu

Wang

et al. 2019

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“…Recently, considerable strategies have been proposed and demonstrated successfully to improve V oc . For example, a higher open circuit voltage above 1.0 V in monocrystalline CdTe with PCE ~17% by doping phosphorus (P) has been achieved . However, polycrystalline CdTe devices with 22% PCE suffers a relative low V oc close to 0.9 V. It is a huge challenge to introduce P or other group V dopants (eg, As and Sb) into the polycrystalline CdTe to further improve the V oc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution‐processed copper (I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) for highly efficient CdSe/CdTe thin‐film solar cells

Montgomery

Guo

Grice

et al. 2019

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Solution‐processed CuSCN serving as hole transport, electron reflecting layer (HTL, ERL) and Cu dopant source for CdSe/CdTe thin‐film solar has demonstrated high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ~17%. Two types of solvent, diethyl sulfide (DES) and aqueous ammonia (NH4OH), are explored to deposit CuSCN on CdTe, and both can enhance the performance of CdSe/CdTe solar cells. However, NH4OH solvent is less toxicity, leading to a smoother surface than DES solvent, enabling the deposition of ultra‐thin CuSCN layer and avoiding the high cost of DES. Temperature‐dependent current‐voltage (J‐V‐T) and capacitance‐voltage (C‐V‐T) measurements reveal that the use of CuSCN HTL increases hole concentration in CdTe absorber and significantly reduces back‐contact barrier height. High power conversion efficiency is achievable with the optimal thickness of the CuSCN layer. Our results demonstrate solution‐processed CuSCN HTL for enhancing the efficiency and reducing the cost of CdTe thin‐film solar cells.

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“…1 Due to its near optimal band gap of 1.5 eV and high absorption coefficient near the band edge, CdTe is used as a semiconductor absorber layer in photovoltaic technology. However, CdTe-based solar cells usually exhibit an open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of ∼ 860 mV, which is low in comparison to the detailed-balance limit of 1.23 V. 2 One route to improve the V oc is by increasing both hole density and carrier lifetime. [3][4][5] The latter can be improved by reducing the concentration of defects that introduce levels deep in the band gap, which act as effective non-radiative Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination centers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-compensation in phosphorus-doped CdTe

2017

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We investigate the self-compensation mechanism in phosphorus-doped CdTe. The formation energies, charge transition levels, and defects states of several P-related point defects susceptible to cause self-compensation are addressed by first-principles calculations. Moreover, we assess the influence of the spin-orbit coupling and supercell-size effects on the stability of AX centers donors, which are believed to be responsible for most of the self-compensation. We report an improved result for the lowest-energy configuration of the P interstitial (Pi) and find that the self-compensation mechanism is not due to the formation of AX centers. Under Te-rich growth conditions, (Pi) exhibits a formation energy lower than the substitutional acceptor (PTe) when the Fermi level is near the valence band, acting as compensating donor. While, for Cd-rich growth conditions, our results suggest that p-type doping is limited by the formation of (PTe − VTe) complexes.

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Monocrystalline CdTe solar cells with open-circuit voltage over 1 V and efficiency of 17%

Cited by 183 publications

References 19 publications

Ultrahigh‐Detectivity Photodetectors with Van der Waals Epitaxial CdTe Single‐Crystalline Films

Ultrahigh‐Detectivity Photodetectors with Van der Waals Epitaxial CdTe Single‐Crystalline Films

Solution‐processed copper (I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) for highly efficient CdSe/CdTe thin‐film solar cells

Self-compensation in phosphorus-doped CdTe

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