Analysis of Back-Contact Interface Recombination in Thin-Film Solar Cells

Paul, Sanjoy; Grover, Sachit; Repins, Ingrid; Keyes, B. M.; Contreras, Miguel Á.; Ramanathan, K.; Noufi, R.; Chen, Yujin; Liao, Feng; Li, Jian V.

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2018.2819664

Cited by 52 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…It is noted that the hole barrier levels for CdTe/ZnSe heterojunction depends on both the valence band levels and the Fermi levels of the CdTe and ZnSe. A small positive conduction-band offset may help maintain good cell efficiency as it created a large hole barrier adjacent to the interface and reduced interface recombination [32][33][34]. Efficiency up to 11% has been attained in the case of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin-film solar cells with ZnSe buffer layer [35] while >21% efficiency has been achieved for the ZnS buffer layer [36].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution-Processed CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells Using ZnSe Nanocrystal as a Buffer Layer

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The CdTe nanocrystal (NC) is an outstanding, low-cost photovoltaic material for highly efficient solution-processed thin-film solar cells. Currently, most CdTe NC thin-film solar cells are based on CdSe, ZnO, or CdS buffer layers. In this study, a wide bandgap and Cd-free ZnSe NC is introduced for the first time as the buffer layer for all solution-processed CdTe/ZnSe NC hetero-junction thin-film solar cells with a configuration of ITO/ZnO/ZnSe/CdTe/MoOx/Au. The dependence of the thickness of the ZnSe NC film, the annealing temperature and the chemical treatment on the performance of NC solar cells are investigated and discussed in detail. We further develop a ligand-exchanging strategy that involves 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) during the fabrication of ZnSe NC film. An improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.58% is obtained, which is increased by 16.6% when compared to a device without the EDT treatment. We believe that using ZnSe NC as the buffer layer holds the potential for developing high-efficiency, low cost, and stable CdTe NC-based solar cells.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution-Processed CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells Using ZnSe Nanocrystal as a Buffer Layer

et al. 2018

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“…Indeed, for a complete physical investigation of the device behavior, larger ranges in temperatures and irradiances should be considered, especially for better understanding of the transport phenomena inside the solar cells. For further details, valid results can be found in [24,25].…”

Section: Parametermentioning

confidence: 91%

Equivalent Circuit Model for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells Operating at Different Temperatures and Irradiance

et al. 2018

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The modeling of photovoltaic cells is an essential step in the analysis of the performances and characterization of PV systems. This paper proposes an experimental study of the dependence of the five parameters of the one-diode model on atmospheric conditions, i.e., irradiance and temperature in the case of thin-film solar cells. The extraction of the five parameters was performed starting from two sets of experimental data obtained from Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells fabricated by the low-temperature pulsed electron deposition technique. A reduced form approach of the one-diode model has been adopted, leading to an accurate identification of the cell. It was possible to elaborate suitable relations describing the behavior of the parameters as functions of the environmental conditions. This allowed accurately predicting the trends of the parameters from a pair of curves, instead of a whole set of measurements. The developed model describing the dependence on irradiance and temperature was validated by means of a large set of experimental measurements on several Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) devices built with the same technological process.

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“…The results show that incorporating Cu:NiO x into the PSC device improves its J-V behavior, giving a large area under the curve. The increase in the open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of the device with 0.1 M Cu:NiO x /PEDOT:PSS could result from the reduction in the potential loss at the HTL/perovskite interface due to the improved energy-level alignment, as shown by Paul et al [39,40] and Li et al [41] who adopted the band-bending technique to eliminate recombination at the interfaces of cadmium telluride (CdTe), thin-films and copper-indiumgallium-selenide (Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 ) solar cells with low and high gallium (Ga) compositions. The improved J sc of the Cu:NiO x /PEDOT:PSS could be attributed to the increase in the electrical conductivity of the Cu:NiO x , which provides room for more charges to be extracted from the perovskite absorber layer.…”

Section: Performance Of Fabricated Perovskite Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…This results in a PEDOT:PSS/Cu:NiOx hole transport layer, enhancing hole collection and transport efficiency [7,31,[35][36][37][38]. Therefore, interface recombination is prevented [39][40][41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hybrid Hole Transport Layer for Perovskite-Based Solar Cells

et al. 2021

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This paper presents the effect of a composite poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate PEDOT:PSS and copper-doped nickel oxide (Cu:NiOx) hole transport layer (HTL) on the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Thin films of Cu:NiOx were spin-coated onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates using a blend of nickel acetate tetrahydrate, 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine (MEA) and copper acetate monohydrate. The prepared solution was stirred at 65 °C for 4 h and spin-coated onto the FTO substrates at 3000 rpm for 30 s in a nitrogen glovebox. The Cu:NiOx/FTO/glass structure was then annealed in air at 400 °C for 30 min. A mixture of PEDOT:PSS and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) (in 1:0.05 wt%) was spun onto the Cu:NiOx/FTO/glass substrate at 4000 rpm for 60 s. The multilayer structure was annealed at 130 °C for 15 min. Subsequently, the perovskite precursor (0.95 M) of methylammonium iodide (MAI) to lead acetate trihydrate (Pb(OAc)2·3H2O) was spin-coated at 4000 rpm for 200 s and thermally annealed at 80 °C for 12 min. The inverted planar perovskite solar cells were then fabricated by the deposition of a photoactive layer (CH3NH3PbI3), [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and a Ag electrode. The mechanical behavior of the device during the fabrication of the Cu:NiOx HTL was modeled with finite element simulations using Abaqus/Complete Abaqus Environment CAE. The results show that incorporating Cu:NiOx into the PSC device improves its density–voltage (J–V) behavior, giving an enhanced photoconversion efficiency (PCE) of ~12.8% from ~9.8% and ~11.5% when PEDOT:PSS-only and Cu:NiOx-only are fabricated, respectively. The short circuit current density Jsc for the 0.1 M Cu:NiOx and 0.2 M Cu:NiOx-based devices increased by 18% and 9%, respectively, due to the increase in the electrical conductivity of the Cu:NiOx which provides room for more charges to be extracted out of the absorber layer. The increases in the PCEs were due to the copper-doped nickel oxide blend with the PEDOT:PSS which enhanced the exciton density and charge transport efficiency leading to higher electrical conductivity. The results indicate that the devices with the copper-doped nickel oxide hole transport layer (HTL) are slower to degrade compared with the PEDOT:PSS-only-based HTL. The finite element analyses show that the Cu:NiOx layer would not extensively deform the device, leading to improved stability and enhanced performance. The implications of the results are discussed for the design of low-temperature solution-processed PSCs with copper-doped nickel oxide composite HTLs.

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Analysis of Back-Contact Interface Recombination in Thin-Film Solar Cells

Cited by 52 publications

References 32 publications

Solution-Processed CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells Using ZnSe Nanocrystal as a Buffer Layer

Solution-Processed CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells Using ZnSe Nanocrystal as a Buffer Layer

Equivalent Circuit Model for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells Operating at Different Temperatures and Irradiance

A Hybrid Hole Transport Layer for Perovskite-Based Solar Cells

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