Journal ArticleDOI
Potassium-induced surface modification of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films for high-efficiency solar cells
Adrian Chirila,Patrick Reinhard,Fabian Pianezzi,P. Bloesch,Alexander R. Uhl,C.M. Fella,Lukas Kranz,Debora Keller,Christina Gretener,Harald Hagendorfer,Dominik Jaeger,Rolf Erni,Shiro Nishiwaki,Stephan Buecheler,Ayodhya N. Tiwari +14 more
TLDR
A new sequential post-deposition treatment of the CIGS layer with sodium and potassium fluoride is presented that enables fabrication of flexible photovoltaic devices with a remarkable conversion efficiency due to modified interface properties and mitigation of optical losses in the CdS buffer layer.Abstract:
Thin-film photovoltaic devices based on chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) absorber layers show excellent light-to-power conversion efficiencies exceeding 20%. This high performance level requires a small amount of alkaline metals incorporated into the CIGS layer, naturally provided by soda lime glass substrates used for processing of champion devices. The use of flexible substrates requires distinct incorporation of the alkaline metals, and so far mainly Na was believed to be the most favourable element, whereas other alkaline metals have resulted in significantly inferior device performance. Here we present a new sequential post-deposition treatment of the CIGS layer with sodium and potassium fluoride that enables fabrication of flexible photovoltaic devices with a remarkable conversion efficiency due to modified interface properties and mitigation of optical losses in the CdS buffer layer. The described treatment leads to a significant depletion of Cu and Ga concentrations in the CIGS near-surface region and enables a significant thickness reduction of the CdS buffer layer without the commonly observed losses in photovoltaic parameters. Ion exchange processes, well known in other research areas, are proposed as underlying mechanisms responsible for the changes in chemical composition of the deposited CIGS layer and interface properties of the heterojunction.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of heavy alkali elements in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with efficiencies up to 22.6%
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of different alkali elements in the post deposition treatment of CIGS solar cells was investigated and a diode analysis revealed an improved diode quality for cells treated-ed with heavier alkalis.
Journal ArticleDOI
Properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with new record efficiencies up to 21.7%
Philip Jackson,Dimitrios Hariskos,Roland Wuerz,Oliver Kiowski,Andreas Bauer,Theresa Magorian Friedlmeier,Michael Powalla +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, a new thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell record efficiency of 217% using I-V measurement and diode analysis, quantum efficiency and secondary neutral mass spectrometry measurements.
Journal ArticleDOI
Thin-film Sb2Se3 photovoltaics with oriented one-dimensional ribbons and benign grain boundaries
Ying Zhou,Liang Wang,Shiyou Chen,Sikai Qin,Xinsheng Liu,Jie Chen,Ding-Jiang Xue,Miao Luo,Yuanzhi Cao,Yi-Bing Cheng,Edward H. Sargent,Jiang Tang +11 more
TL;DR: In this article, a simple, non-toxic and low-cost antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) material with an optimal solar bandgap of ∼1.1
Journal ArticleDOI
Photovoltaic solar cell technologies: analysing the state of the art
TL;DR: Critically compare the different types of photovoltaic technologies, analyse the performance of the different cells and appraise possibilities for future technological progress.
Journal ArticleDOI
Compound Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals
TL;DR: This review captures the synthesis, assembly, properties, and applications of copper chalcogenide NCs, which have achieved significant research interest in the last decade due to their compositional and structural versatility.
References
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Journal Article
Photoelectrochemical cells : Materials for clean energy
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look into the historical background, and present status and development prospects for photoelectrochemical cells, based on nanocrystalline materials and conducting polymer films.
Journal ArticleDOI
New world record efficiency for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin‐film solar cells beyond 20%
Philip Jackson,Dimitrios Hariskos,Erwin Lotter,Stefan Paetel,Roland Wuerz,Richard Menner,Wiltraud Wischmann,Michael Powalla +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a new certified world record efficiency of 20.1 and 20.3% for thin-film solar cells for the first time and analyzed the characteristics of solar cells on such a performance level and demonstrate a high degree of reproducibility.
Journal ArticleDOI
Thin-film solar cells: an overview
TL;DR: Thin film solar cells are a promising approach for terrestrial and space photovoltaics and offer a wide variety of choices in terms of the device design and fabrication, but it would surely be determined by the simplicity of manufacturability and the cost per reliable watt.
Journal ArticleDOI
Highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells grown on flexible polymer films
Adrian Chirila,Stephan Buecheler,Fabian Pianezzi,P. Bloesch,Christina Gretener,Alexander R. Uhl,C.M. Fella,Lukas Kranz,Julian Perrenoud,S. Seyrling,R. Verma,Shiro Nishiwaki,Yaroslav E. Romanyuk,G. Bilger,Ayodhya N. Tiwari +14 more
TL;DR: A strong composition gradient in the absorber layer is identified as the main reason for inferior performance and it is shown that, by adjusting it appropriately, very high efficiencies can be obtained.