Potential-induced degradation in photovoltaic modules based on n-type single crystalline Si solar cells

Comprehensive study of potential‐induced degradation in silicon heterojunction photovoltaic cell modules

“…PID in SHJ PV modules was found to be effectively prevented by the use of an ionomer encapsulant, demonstrating that the high reliability of SHJ PV modules can be further improved by using encapsulants with a high electrical resistance. This protective effect is already well known for preventing PID in other types of PV modules; this effect is in part caused by the suppression of Na migration. The PID‐suppression effect observed in this study is likely caused by a significant reduction in Na migration, which is consistent with the proposed mechanism presented in Section .…”

“…To determine a possible measure for preventing PID in SHJ PV modules, we performed the PID tests on an SHJ PV module using an ionomer encapsulant, which has a considerably higher volume resistivity (10 16 Ω cm) compared with that of the EVA encapsulant used in this study. Thanks to their high volume resistance, ionomer encapsulants can effectively prevent PID from occurring in several kinds of PV modules, such as p‐type c‐Si, n‐type front‐emitter c‐Si, and CIGS PV modules. Figure shows the dependence of P max / P max,0 of the SHJ PV modules with the standard EVA encapsulant and with the ionomer encapsulant on the PID testing duration.…”

“…After 1 day of PID testing, the P max / P max,0 value of the a‐Si, CIGS, and n‐type rear‐emitter c‐Si PV modules decreased to 0.23, 0.95, and 0.93, respectively. When the PID tests were 2 days long, however, the P max / P max,0 for the p‐type c‐Si and n‐type front‐emitter c‐Si PV modules decreased to 0.04 to 0.4 and 0.85, respectively. In contrast, the SHJ PV modules exhibited little degradation after the 2‐day‐long PID test.…”

“…We have previously reported PID test results for PID‐prone p‐type c‐Si, conventional superstrate‐type a‐Si thin‐film, CIGS thin‐film, n‐type front‐emitter c‐Si, and n‐type rear‐emitter c‐Si PV modules. Except for the a‐Si thin‐film module, these PV modules had the same module configuration and the same encapsulation materials (the a‐Si thin‐film module had a superstrate configuration; thus, there was no encapsulant between the front glass and the cells).…”

Potential induced degradation of n‐type crystalline silicon solar cells with p+ front junction

“… have reported PID results for an n‐type IBC solar cell with a front floating emitter, and Hara et al. have reported PID results for an n‐type solar cell with a front p‐n junction. In addition, Yamaguchi et al.…”