Passivating contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells

Allen, Thomas G.; Bullock, James; Yang, Xinbo; Javey, Ali; Wolf, Stefaan De

doi:10.1038/s41560-019-0463-6

Cited by 448 publications

(443 citation statements)

References 210 publications

(257 reference statements)

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“…The smaller transmittance in the blue spectral range is most probably the result of parasitic absorption within the doped silicon layers, which are used for charge carrier separation. Applying alternative contact schemes with wide bandgap materials could improve the optical performance in this case [52]. Moreover, as can be seen in Figure 10, 40% of the green and near-infrared light is still reflected instead of absorbed.…”

Section: Spectrally Selective Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Ultrathin Nano-Absorbers in Photovoltaics: Prospects and Innovative Applications

Götz¹,

Osterthun²,

Gehrke³

et al. 2020

Coatings

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Approaching the first terawatt of installations, photovoltaics (PV) are about to become the major source of electric power until the mid-century. The technology has proven to be long lasting and very versatile and today PV modules can be found in numerous applications. This is a great success of the entire community, but taking future growth for granted might be dangerous. Scientists have recently started to call for accelerated innovation and cost reduction. Here, we show how ultrathin absorber layers, only a few nanometers in thickness, together with strong light confinement can be used to address new applications for photovoltaics. We review the basics of this new type of solar cell and point out the requirements to the absorber layer material by optical simulation. Furthermore, we discuss innovative applications, which make use of the unique optical properties of the nano absorber solar cell architecture, such as spectrally selective PV and switchable photovoltaic windows.

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Section: Spectrally Selective Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Applying alternative contact schemes with wide bandgap materials could improve the optical performance in this case [52]. Moreover, as can be seen in Figure 10, 40% of the green and nearinfrared light is still reflected instead of absorbed.…”

Section: Spectrally Selective Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ultrathin Nano-Absorbers in Photovoltaics: Prospects and Innovative Applications

Götz¹,

Osterthun²,

Gehrke³

et al. 2020

Coatings

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show abstract

“…[ 4,5 ] Historically, this problem has been solved by the use of thin dielectric film materials, such as SiO 2 , SiN x , Al 2 O 3 , and intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous Si (a‐Si:H(i)). [ 6–9 ] Although those dielectric films can passivate the interface defects very well, their insulator nature impedes further carrier transport, which forces the use of partial passivation and local contact schemes in specific photovoltaic (PV) devices, [ 10–14 ] inevitably leading to processing complexity. In this case, for example, a high‐temperature firing process is required to enable the conductive metal electrode material to penetrate the dielectric layers, which forms a local transport path.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conductive Hole‐Selective Passivating Contacts for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Wan

Zhang

et al. 2020

Advanced Energy Materials

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Defect state passivation and conductivity of materials are always in opposition; thus, it is unlikely for one material to possess both excellent carrier transport and defect state passivation simultaneously. As a result, the use of partial passivation and local contact strategies are required for silicon solar cells, which leads to fabrication processes with technical complexities. Thus, one material that possesses both a good passivation and conductivity is highly desirable in silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work, a passivation‐conductivity phase‐like diagram is presented and a conductive‐passivating‐carrier‐selective contact is achieved using PEDOT:Nafion composite thin films. A power conversion efficiency of 18.8% is reported for an industrial multicrystalline silicon solar cell with a back PEDOT:Nafion contact, demonstrating a solution‐processed organic passivating contact concept. This concept has the potential advantages of omitting the use of conventional dielectric passivation materials deposited by costly high‐vacuum equipment, energy‐intensive high‐temperature processes, and complex laser opening steps. This work also contributes an effective back‐surface field scheme and a new hole‐selective contact for p‐type and n‐type silicon solar cells, respectively, both for research purposes and as a low‐cost surface engineering strategy for future Si‐based PV technologies.

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“…Our SHJ process starts with immersing the raw, as-cut c-Si wafers into an alkaline solution to obtain 7−10 micrometric randomly distributed pyramids as texture at the front and back surfaces. [17] To accommodate the 2T design, we fabricated the SHJ in a so-called rear-junction configuration (i.e., electrons are collected at the illuminated side of the device). We then deposited the intrinsic and doped silicon amorphous layers via plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and later indium tin oxide (ITO) by sputtering to form the passivating heterojunction contacts at front and back, as well as the recombination junction, needed to electrically couple the sub cells in the tandem.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then deposited the intrinsic and doped silicon amorphous layers via plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and later indium tin oxide (ITO) by sputtering to form the passivating heterojunction contacts at front and back, as well as the recombination junction, needed to electrically couple the sub cells in the tandem. [17] To accommodate the 2T design, we fabricated the SHJ in a so-called rear-junction configuration (i.e., electrons are collected at the illuminated side of the device). [18] We then sputtered a layer of nickel oxide (NiO x ) as hole transport layer (HTL) for the inverted (p-i-n) perovskite top cell onto the sunward ITO layer of the bottom cell, acting as recombination junction.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco‐Friendly Spray Deposition of Perovskite Films on Macroscale Textured Surfaces

Sansoni

Bastiani

Aydın

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Technologies

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are directly realized on top of a silicon bottom cell. Utilizing commercial crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers brings a technological challenge since the perovskite device needs then to be fabricated on wafers that feature micron-scale randomly distributed pyramidal texture, an imperative characteristic for industrial c-Si solar cells for minimizing reflection losses. The PSCs owe their present prominence to their high PCE obtained via solutiondeposition techniques, which is arguably cheaper and simpler compared to conventional vacuum-based deposition for device fabrication. From this perspective, it is required to make solution-based processing of perovskite solar cells compatible with the use of micron-scale textured substrates. Among solution processing techniques, spin coating is widespread due to its process simplicity, ease of access, and because high-quality polycrystalline perovskite films can be obtained. However, this technique is not suitable for upscaling toward industrialization. Also, considering suggestions for large-scale applications in which spin coating is translated into blade coating, the application of this technique usually results in high material consumption, which is undesirable for a sustainable low-cost production. Moreover, spin coating the perovskite layer on textured silicon bottom cells represents a challenge by itself which, to date, reportedly led to poor coverage of the films resulting in low-performing tandems. [2,3] At present, 2T tandems are mainly realized following two approaches. In the first case, the c-Si bottom cell features a mirror-polished flat front surface to accommodate spin-coated perovskite films. However, this causes reflection losses in the device, which hamper the overall PCE and require additional antireflective coatings or foils. [4] In the second case, the perovskite is deposited on textured c-Si via hybrid conversion, where the perovskite precursors, lead(II) iodide (PbI 2 ) and cesium bromide (CsBr), are thermally evaporated on the c-Si bottom cell and then converted into perovskite by spin coating the organic ammonium salts (formamidinium iodide/bromide, FAI, and FABr, respectively). [2] In this case, the limiting factor is represented by fine-tuning the conversion process. Overall, both techniques strongly rely on spin coating as a deposition/ conversion method, which still represents a roadblock toward scaling-up for commercialization. Indeed, for successful PV An innovative sequential eco-friendly spray coating (SEF-SC) technique is developed to uniformly deposit metal halide perovskite films on macroscale textured surfaces, such as textured crystalline-silicon wafers. Contrasting with previous work on spray-coated perovskite solar cells, the method presented in this work completely avoids the use of toxic and dangerous solvents. Both MAPbI 3 and CsFAMAPbI 3−x Br x perovskite films deposited by SEF-SC show excellent optoelectronic properties and no phase segregation, even when synthesized in ambient conditions. Uniform perovskite coatings are obtained...

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Passivating contacts for crystalline silicon solar cells

Cited by 448 publications

References 210 publications

Ultrathin Nano-Absorbers in Photovoltaics: Prospects and Innovative Applications

Ultrathin Nano-Absorbers in Photovoltaics: Prospects and Innovative Applications

Conductive Hole‐Selective Passivating Contacts for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Eco‐Friendly Spray Deposition of Perovskite Films on Macroscale Textured Surfaces

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