Abstract:Passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cells have dominated the photovoltaic market in recent years. Continuously improving the efficiency of PERC solar cells is of great importance to enable the goal of low electricity cost, which is cheaper than the cost of thermal power generation. Herein, it is demonstrated that a two‐step postfiring bias treatment is able to evidently enhance the efficiency of commercial gallium‐doped PERC solar cells by up to 0.1% absolute. In detail, the first‐step bias treatment… Show more
“…6 d). A similar improvement of the cell performance has very recently been reported on Ga-doped Cz-Si PERC solar cells by means of a two-step bias treatment 30 . Figure 6 Reversibility of a Ga-doped Cz-Si POLO BJ solar cell through consecutive activation (140 °C, 1 sun, 12 min)/deactivation (44 °C, 0.5 suns, 15 min) cycles (1), regeneration through prolonged illumination at elevated temperatures (140 °C, 1 sun, 5 h) (2), and test of the stability of the regeneration at 80 and 140 °C (3).…”
The fast-firing step commonly applied at the end of solar cell production lines is known to trigger light-induced degradation effects on solar cells made on different silicon materials. In this study, we examine degradation phenomena on high-efficiency solar cells with poly-Si passivating contacts made on Ga-doped Czochralski-grown silicon (Cz-Si) base material under one-sun illumination at elevated temperatures ranging from 80 to 160 °C. The extent of degradation is demonstrated to increase with the applied temperature up to 140 °C. Above 140 °C, the degradation extent decreases with increasing temperature. The degradation of the energy conversion efficiency can be ascribed foremost to a reduction of the short-circuit current and the fill factor and to a lesser extent to a reduction of the open-circuit voltage. The extent of degradation at 140 °C amounts to 0.4%abs of the initial conversion efficiency of 22.1% compared to 0.15%abs at 80 °C. The extent of the efficiency degradation in the examined solar cells is significantly lower (by a factor of ~ 5) compared to solar cells made on B-doped Cz-Si wafers. Importantly, through prolonged illumination at elevated temperatures (e.g. 5 h, 1 sun, 140 °C), an improvement of the conversion efficiency by up to 0.2%abs compared to the initial value is achievable in combination with a permanent regeneration resulting in long-term stable conversion efficiencies above 22%.
“…6 d). A similar improvement of the cell performance has very recently been reported on Ga-doped Cz-Si PERC solar cells by means of a two-step bias treatment 30 . Figure 6 Reversibility of a Ga-doped Cz-Si POLO BJ solar cell through consecutive activation (140 °C, 1 sun, 12 min)/deactivation (44 °C, 0.5 suns, 15 min) cycles (1), regeneration through prolonged illumination at elevated temperatures (140 °C, 1 sun, 5 h) (2), and test of the stability of the regeneration at 80 and 140 °C (3).…”
The fast-firing step commonly applied at the end of solar cell production lines is known to trigger light-induced degradation effects on solar cells made on different silicon materials. In this study, we examine degradation phenomena on high-efficiency solar cells with poly-Si passivating contacts made on Ga-doped Czochralski-grown silicon (Cz-Si) base material under one-sun illumination at elevated temperatures ranging from 80 to 160 °C. The extent of degradation is demonstrated to increase with the applied temperature up to 140 °C. Above 140 °C, the degradation extent decreases with increasing temperature. The degradation of the energy conversion efficiency can be ascribed foremost to a reduction of the short-circuit current and the fill factor and to a lesser extent to a reduction of the open-circuit voltage. The extent of degradation at 140 °C amounts to 0.4%abs of the initial conversion efficiency of 22.1% compared to 0.15%abs at 80 °C. The extent of the efficiency degradation in the examined solar cells is significantly lower (by a factor of ~ 5) compared to solar cells made on B-doped Cz-Si wafers. Importantly, through prolonged illumination at elevated temperatures (e.g. 5 h, 1 sun, 140 °C), an improvement of the conversion efficiency by up to 0.2%abs compared to the initial value is achievable in combination with a permanent regeneration resulting in long-term stable conversion efficiencies above 22%.
“…Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells have maintained a market share of approximately 95% in the worldwide photovoltaic (PV) industry. [1,2] The passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cell based on p-type monocrystalline wafers (mono-Si) is currently dominating the industrial c-Si solar cell market, with a mass production average efficiency reaching %23.0% [3] and a world-record efficiency of 24.06% in commercial dimensions. [4] Continuous improvement in conversion efficiency and reduction in manufacturing costs are perennially key for the PV industry to achieve a lower levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).…”
Herein, an ultrafast random‐pyramid texturing process is proposed for monocrystalline silicon (mono‐Si) solar cells by combining metal‐catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) and the standard alkaline texturing process. Namely, large numbers of artificial defects are introduced on the wafer surface in 3 min by MCCE; therefore, the process duration of alkaline texturing is largely shortened from 420 s for the as‐cut wafer to 180 s for the wafer with artificial defects due to its high surface reactivity. Moreover, those tiny artificial defects are apt to form small pyramids, resulting in a better light‐trapping performance. As a demonstration, the passivated emitter rear contact solar cell with ultrafast random pyramid texture achieves a power conversion efficiency of 23.02%. Therefore, such a cost‐effective ultrafast texturing strategy can open a promising new route toward the mass production of high‐efficiency industrial mono‐Si solar cells.
Herein, it is demonstrated that low temperature current injection and annealing (CIA) treatment can cause evident improvements in open circuit voltage, short‐circuit current, and fill factor of tunnel oxide‐passivated contact (TOPCon) silicon solar cells, leading to a notable conversion efficiency gain (over 0.4% absolute at the best condition). The effects of injected current and annealing temperatures toward the improvement of electrical performance of the TOPCon solar cells are compared. The more evident increase in the electrical performance after the CIA treatment may come from the higher fill factor improvements, which can be induced by the change of contact resistance after the CIA treatment, the potential involvement of hydrogen is discussed. The CIA treatment can be a reliable approach to further enhance the conversion efficiency of TOPCon solar cells, which is of great significance for the global PV industry.
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