Vacuum‐Healing of Grain Boundaries in Sodium‐Doped CuInSe<sub>2</sub> Solar Cell Absorbers

Babbe, Finn; Nicoara, Nicoleta; Guthrey, Harvey; Valle, Nathalie; Ramírez, Omar; Aureau, Damien; Elanzeery, Hossam; Sharma, Deepanjan; Audinot, Jean‐Nicolas; Zelenina, Anastasiya; Gharabeiki, Sevan; Wirtz, Tom; Siebentritt, Susanne; Dale, Phillip J.; Sadewasser, Sascha; Colombara, Diego

doi:10.1002/aenm.202204183

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…18 There is evidence that Ak-PDT reduces nonradiative recombination originating from grain boundaries, 19 also in combination with oxygen. 20 Yet, the underlying diffusion interplay between Ak dopants and matrix atoms in CIGS [21][22][23] (including its copper decient surface layer, CDL 24 ), cannot be excluded to play an important role within the interior of the grains, given that photoluminescence analyses point to Ak reducing electrostatic potential uctuations even in CIGS free from grain boundaries. 25 CIGS is a complex playground for exotic atomic diffusion phenomena that we are just now starting to grasp.…”

Section: Do We Really Understand Alkali Metal Doping?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Colombara,

Stanbery,

Sozzi

2023

J. Mater. Chem. A

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Section: Do We Really Understand Alkali Metal Doping?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Colombara,

Stanbery,

Sozzi

2023

J. Mater. Chem. A

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“…One common method involves incorporating a small amount of the Na element into the CISe material. Na doping has been found to minimize detrimental decomposition upon exposure to air and to heal oxidized grain boundaries, leading to a positive impact on the radiative recombination of bare absorbers. Additionally, Na doping enhances the optoelectronic response of CISe, making it more suitable for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cu_1–xCs_xInSe₂: Candidate Absorber for Higher Conversion Efficiency and Broader Band Photodetector

Liu,

Niu,

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Chem. C

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Exploring the improvement of power conversion efficiency (PCE) and potential in the photodetection of devices fabricated by copper based thin film materials is very meaningful. For this, we systematically study the crystal and electronic structures of CuInSe 2 (CISe) doped by the Cs element and investigate the device performance with Cs-doped CISe as an absorber. The result shows that the substitution of Cs for Cu can significantly change the crystal structure, which leads to the decrease of the band gap from 1.04 to 0.767 eV and the variation of the electronic states at the Fermi level. One doping case with the band gap of 1.009 eV is considered a promising candidate for the absorber and exhibits a PCE up to 23.37% higher than 19.2% of CISe, which demonstrates the excellent performance of narrow band gap photovoltaic cells. We find that by adjusting the content of Cs, the detectivity of Cs:CISe devices can reach 2.36 × 10 14 Jones at 1200 nm and the detection wavelength can be extended to 1620 nm while maintaining the detectivity at a 10 12 Jones level. The results suggest that doping Cs into the CISe absorber layer can further improve the conversion efficiency of copper based thin film solar cells and exhibits promising photodetection performance.

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“…This accumulation may effectively eliminate charged defects, dangling bonds, copper vacancies, and other imperfections [5]. Moreover, the latest reports indicate that the passivation of GBs can also result from the annihilation of the V Cu -V Se divacancy complex at the GBs [28]. This reversible mechanism has been linked to the role of Na in relation to oxygen [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the latest reports indicate that the passivation of GBs can also result from the annihilation of the V Cu -V Se divacancy complex at the GBs [28]. This reversible mechanism has been linked to the role of Na in relation to oxygen [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grain boundaries are not the source of Urbach tails in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ absorbers

Gharabeiki,

Farooq,

Wang

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Energy

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The presence of Urbach tails in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) absorbers has been identified as a limiting factor for the performance of the CIGSe solar cells. The tail states contribute to both radiative and non-radiative recombination processes, ultimately leading to a reduction in the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and, consequently, decreasing the overall efficiency of CIGSe devices. Urbach tails result from structural and thermal disorders. The Urbach tails can be characterized by the Urbach energy, which is associated with the magnitude of the tail states. Within polycrystalline CIGSe absorbers, grain boundaries can be considered as structural disorder and, therefore, can potentially contribute to the Urbach tails. In fact, it has been proposed that the band bending at grain boundaries contribute significantly to the tail states. This study focuses on examining the correlation between Urbach tails and the band bending at the grain boundaries. The Urbach energies of the CIGSe samples are extracted from photoluminescence (PL) measurements, which reveal that the introduction of Sodium (Na) into the material can lead to a reduction in the Urbach energy, and an even further decrease can be achieved through the RbF post-deposition treatment (PDT). The band bending at the grain boundaries is investigated by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) measurements. A thorough statistical analysis of more than 340 grain boundaries does not show any correlation between Urbach tails and grain boundaries. We measure small band bending values at the grain boundaries, in the range of the thermal energy (26meV at room temperature). Furthermore, our intensity dependent PL measurements indicate that Urbach tails are, at least in part, a result of electrostatic potential fluctuations. This supports the model that the introduction of alkali elements mainly decreases the magnitude of electrostatic potential fluctuations, resulting in a subsequent reduction in the Urbach energy.

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Vacuum‐Healing of Grain Boundaries in Sodium‐Doped CuInSe₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Cited by 6 publications

References 47 publications

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Cu_1–xCs_xInSe₂: Candidate Absorber for Higher Conversion Efficiency and Broader Band Photodetector

Grain boundaries are not the source of Urbach tails in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ absorbers

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Vacuum‐Healing of Grain Boundaries in Sodium‐Doped CuInSe2 Solar Cell Absorbers

Cited by 6 publications

References 47 publications

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se2

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se2

Cu1–xCsxInSe2: Candidate Absorber for Higher Conversion Efficiency and Broader Band Photodetector

Grain boundaries are not the source of Urbach tails in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorbers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

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Vacuum‐Healing of Grain Boundaries in Sodium‐Doped CuInSe₂ Solar Cell Absorbers

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Revani diffusion model in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂

Cu_1–xCs_xInSe₂: Candidate Absorber for Higher Conversion Efficiency and Broader Band Photodetector

Grain boundaries are not the source of Urbach tails in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ absorbers