Enhancing the performance of thin film CdS/PbS photovoltaic solar cells

This work investigates dependence of the short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of a thin film CdS/PbS solar cell on thickness of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, thickness of window layer (CdS), concentration of uncompensated acceptors (width of space-charge region), carrier lifetime in PbS and the reflectivity from metallic back contact. The effect of optical losses, front and rear recombination losses as well as the recombination losses on space-charge region are also considered in this study. As a result, by thinning the front contact layer indium tin oxide from 400 to 100 nm and window layer (CdS) from 200 to 100 nm it is possible to reduce the optical losses from 32 to 20%. The effect of electron lifetime on the internal and external quantum efficiency can be neglected at high width of the space-charge region. The maximum current density of 18.4 mA/cm² is achieved at wide space-charge region (concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁵ cm^?3) and the longest lifetime (τ_n = 10^?6 s) where the optical and recombination losses are about 55%. The maximum efficiency of 5.17%, maximum open-circuit voltage of 417 mV and approximately fixed fill factor of 74% are yielded at optimum conditions such as: electron lifetime = 10^?6 s; concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁶ cm^?3; thickness of TCO = 100 nm; thickness of CdS = 100 nm; velocity of surface and rear recombination = 10⁷ cm/s and thickness of absorber layer = 3 μm. When the reflectance from the back contact is 100%, the cell parameters improve and the cell efficiency records a value of 6.1% under the above conditions.     

In-situ growth of a CdS window layer by vacuum thermal evaporation for CIGS thin film solar cell applications

Highly crystalline and transparent CdS films are grown by utilizing the vacuum thermal evaporation （VTE） method. The structural, surface morphological, and optical properties of the films are studied and compared with those prepared by chemical bath deposition （CBD）. It is found that the films deposited at a high substrate temperature （200 ℃） have a preferential orientation along （002） which is consistent with CBD-grown films. Absorption spectra reveal that the films are highly transparent and the optical band gap values are found to be in a range of 2.44 eV-2.56 eV. Culnl_xGaxSe2 （CIGS） solar cells with in-situ VTE-grown CdS films exhibit higher values of Voc together with smaller values of Jsc than those from CBD. Eventually the conversion efficiency and fill factor become slightly better than those from the CBD method. Our work suggests that the in-situ thermal evaporation method can be a competitive alternative to the CBD method, particularly in the physical- and vacuum-based CIGS technology.     

碲化镉薄膜太阳电池中的关键科学问题研究

文章对CdTe薄膜太阳电池中的4个关键科学问题进行了讨论,并对电池器件的性能进行了研究,其中包括高质量硫化镉薄膜、背接触层、CdS/CdTe界面和CdCl2热处理性能的研究。文章作者研究了背电极接触层中Cu掺杂含量对电池性能的影响,通过改变背接触层中Cu的含量,可以改变Cu与Te反应产生的物相成分,从而发现以Cu1.4Te为主导的背接触缓冲层能有效地减少电池I—V 曲线中的“翻转”(roll-over)现象,同时能有效地降低背接触势垒。此外,还研究了CdS/CdTe界面的CdCl2热处理反应,发现当热处理温度高于350℃时,CdS与CdTe之间的互扩散开始发生,此温度对应于CdS由立方相转变为六方相;而在550℃热处理后,S 和Te 互扩散形成的CdSxTe1-x 化合物,其x 值高达11%。通过优化电池制备工艺,获得了在AM1.5标准光源下高达14.6%的CdTe电池转换效率。     

化学浴沉积法制备CdS多晶薄膜

利用化学浴沉积法制备适合于铜铟镓硒薄膜太阳能电池缓冲层材料的CdS多晶薄膜,研究了在不同温度和不同时间下沉积薄膜的性质．薄膜生长开始由ion-by-ion机制控制,随着时间的进行,cluster-by-cluster机制占据主导．薄膜的生长速度随着沉积温度的升高而快速增加,直到达到饱和厚度．并且饱和厚度随温度升高而相应降低．SEM表明随沉积时间增加以及温度升高,薄膜表面形貌从多孔到粗糙的不均匀转变．XRD结果显示,薄膜由立方和六方两相结构组成,控制沉积时间对薄膜的主要晶相结构很关键．所有温度下沉积的CdS     

肖特基势垒对CdS/CdTe薄膜电池J-V暗性能的影响

采用数学模拟方法分析了不同背接触势垒高度(φ_b) 对于CdS/CdTe薄膜电池的J-V(电流密度-电压)方程的影响, 得出了势垒高度与roll-over的变化对应关系. 采用相应Cu/Mo背电极的CdS/CdTe薄膜电池在220-300 K的变温J-V曲线的数值分析与理论分析相对照, 分析了背势垒对于J-V曲线拟合参数的影响. 修正了φ_b 与反向饱和电流(J_b0)关系式, 理论与实验符合得非常好. 关键词： CdS/CdTe薄膜 伏安特性 肖特基势垒 roll-over     

一个非晶硅薄膜太阳能电池制备用激光刻线系统

 非晶硅薄膜太阳能电池制备过程中的激光刻线工艺要求刻线宽度在30 μm～50 μm之间,死区范围小于300 μm,刻线深度符合工艺要求。这不仅要求激光器具有较高的光束质量,而且要求光学系统具有较高的成像质量和较宽的焦深。设计了单激光器四分光路的激光刻线系统。采用设计的激光刻线装置,在1 400 mm×1 100 mm×3.2 mm玻璃基板上进行刻线试验,分别得到刻线P1,P2,P3的线宽为35 μm,50 μm和45 μm,死区范围（P1至P3的距离）为287 μm,最终深度分别为0.98 μm,0.24 μm和0.58 μm,刻线宽度和深度均符合薄膜太阳能电池制备工艺要求。     

Enhanced optical absorption by Ag nanoparticles in a thin film Si solar cell

Thin film solar cells have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of photovoltaics. Light trapping is crucial to such a thin film silicon solar cell because of a low absorption coefficient due to its indirect band gap. In this paper, we investigate the suitability of surface plasmon resonance Ag nanoparticles for enhancing optical absorption in the thin film solar cell. For evaluating the transmittance capability of Ag nanoparticles and the conventional antireflection film, an enhanced transmittance factor is introduced. We find that under the solar spectrum AM1.5, the transmittance of Ag nanoparticles with radius over 160 nm is equivalent to that of conventional textured antireflection film, and its effect is better than that of the planar antireflection film. The influence of the surrounding medium is also discussed.     

Synthesis of nanocrystalline CdS thin film by SILAR and their characterization

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin film was prepared by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique using ammonium sulphide as anionic precursor. Characterization techniques of XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR and EDX were utilized to study the microstructure of the films. Structural characterization by x-ray diffraction reveals the polycrystalline nature of the films. Cubic structure is revealed from X-ray diffraction and selected area diffraction (SAD) patterns. The particle size estimated using X-ray line broadening method is approximately 7 nm. Instrumental broadening was taken into account while particle size estimation. TEM shows CdS nanoparticles in the range 5–15 nm. Elemental mapping using EFTEM reveals good stoichiometric composition of CdS. Characteristic stretching vibration mode of CdS was observed in the absorption band of FTIR spectrum. Optical absorption study exhibits a distinct blue shift in band gap energy value of about 2.56 eV which confirms the size quantization.     

化学水浴法制备大面积CdS薄膜及其光伏应用

采用化学水浴法制备了大面积CdS多晶薄膜,研究了薄膜的形貌、结构和光学性质,结果表明,大面积CdS多晶薄膜具有良好的均匀性,通过优化CdS多晶薄膜,制成了不同CdS窗口层厚度的CdTe小面积太阳电池,减薄CdS薄膜可有效提高器件的短路电流,改善器件性能.随后,在面积30cm×40cm的衬底上制备了全面积为993.6cm²的CdTe太阳电池组件,其27个集成单元的电学性质较为均匀,太阳电池组件的光电转换效率8.13%. 关键词： 化学水浴法(CBD) CdS薄膜 CdTe太阳电池 CdTe太阳电池组件     

基于氧化镍背接触缓冲层碲化镉薄膜太阳电池的研究

采用电子束蒸发法制备了NiO薄膜,并对其作为碲化镉薄膜太阳电池背接触缓冲层材料进行了相关研究.NiO缓冲层的加入使得碲化镉太阳电池开路电压显著增大.通过X射线光电子能谱测试得到的NiO/CdTe界面能带图表明NiO和CdTe的能带匹配度很好.NiO是宽禁带P型半导体材料,在电池背接触处形成背场,减少了电子在背表面处的复合,从而提高电池开路电压.通过优化NiO薄膜厚度,制备得到转换效率为12.2%、开路电压为789 mV的碲化镉太阳电池.研究证实NiO是用来制备高转换效率、高稳定性碲化镉薄膜太阳电池的一种极有前景的缓冲层材料.     

Preparation of chemically deposited thin films of CdS/PbS solar cell

The present paper reports the preparation of a solar cell which has a cross-sectional scheme: ITO/CdS/PbS, containing a commercially transparent conductive ITO; chemically deposited n-type CdS (340 nm) and absorbed layer of p-type PbS (1400 nm). The structural and optical properties of the constituent films are presented. X-ray diffraction showed that all of the thin films are polycrystalline. Using scanning electron microscopy, the present study revealed that the films have uniform surface morphology over the substrate. The solar cell was characterized by determining the open circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, and J–V under 40 mW/cm² solar radiation. The efficiency of the solar cells was 1.35%, which is much higher (0.041, 0.5 and 0.1–0.4%) and slightly smaller (1.65%) than some solar cells reported in the literature.     

基于GaSb/CdS薄膜热光伏电池的器件设计

基于GaSb薄膜热光伏器件是降低热光伏系统成本的有效途径之一, 本文主要针对GaSb/CdS薄膜热光伏器件结构进行理论分析. 采用AFORS-HET软件进行模拟仿真, 分析GaSb和CdS两种材料各自的缺陷态密度、界面态对电池性能的影响. 根据软件模拟可以得知, 吸收层GaSb的缺陷态密度以及GaSb与CdS之间的界面态密度是影响电池性能的重要因素. 当GaSb缺陷态增加时, 主要影响电池的填充因子, 电池效率明显下降. 而作为窗口层的CdS缺陷态密度对电池性能影响不明显, 当CdS缺陷态密度上升4个数量级时, 电池效率仅下降0.11%.     

硒化锑薄膜太阳电池的模拟与结构优化研究

采用wx-AMPS模拟软件对硒化锑(Sb_2Se_3)薄膜太阳电池进行建模仿真,将CdS, ZnO和Sn02的模型应用到Sb_2Se_3太阳电池的电子传输层中.结果显示,应用CdS和ZnO都能实现较高的器件性能,并发现电子传输层电子亲和势(Xe-ETL)的变化能够调节Sb_2Se_3太阳电池内部的电场分布,是影响器件性能的关键参数之一.过高或者过低的Xe-ETL都会使电池的填充因子降低,导致电池性能劣化.当Xe-ETL为4.2eV时,厚度为0.6μm的Sb_2Se_3太阳电池取得了最优的7.87%的转换效率.应用优化好的器件模型,在不考虑Sb_2Se_3层缺陷态的理想情况下,厚度为3μm的Sb_2Se_3太阳电池的转换效率可以达到16.55%(短路电流密度J_(SC)=34.88 mA/cm~2、开路电压V_(OC)=0.59 V、填充因子FF=80.40%).以上模拟结果表明,Sb_2Se_3薄膜太阳电池在简单的器件结构下就能够获得优异的光电性能,具有较高的应用潜力.     

Electrical conductivity and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured thin film

The electrical conductivity, structural and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured semiconductor thin film prepared by sol-gel spin coating method have been investigated. The X-ray diffraction result indicates that the ZnO film has the polycrystalline nature with average grain size of 28 nm. The optical transmittance spectrum indicates the average transmittance higher than 90% in visible region. The optical band gap, Urbach energy and optical constants (refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant) of the film were determined. The electrical conductivity of the film dependence of temperature was measured to identify the dominant conductivity mechanism. The conductivity mechanism of the film is the thermally activated band conduction. The electrical conductivity and optical results revealed that the ZnO film is an n-type nanostructured semiconductor with a direct band gap of about 3.30 eV at room temperature.     

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells from nanoparticle precursors

A non-vacuum process for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cells from nanoparticle precursors was described in this work. CIGS nanoparticle precursors was prepared by a low temperature colloidal route by reacting the starting materials (CuI, InI₃, GaI₃ and Na₂Se) in organic solvents, by which fine CIGS nanoparticles of about 15 nm in diameter were obtained. The nanoparticle precursors were then deposited onto Mo/glass substrate by the doctor blade technique. After heat treating the CIGS/Mo/glass layers in Se gas atmosphere, a complete solar cell structure was fabricated by depositing the other layers including CdS buffer layer, ZnO window layer and Al electrodes by conventional methods. The resultant solar cell showed a conversion efficiency of 0.5%.     

掺杂透明导电半导体薄膜的光电性能研究

掺杂氧化锌透明导电膜(AZO)是一种重要的光电子信息材料，其制备方法有真空蒸镀法、磁控溅射法，化学气相沉积和脉冲激光沉积法等。该文采用溶胶 凝胶（sol gel)工艺在普通玻璃基片上成功地制备出Al3+掺杂型ZnO透明导电薄膜。将这种薄膜在空气和真空中以不同的温度进行了退火处理，并对薄膜进行了XRD分析和光电性能研究。结果表明，所制备的薄膜为钎锌矿型结构，在c轴方向择优生长，真空退火有利于薄膜结晶状况的改善，并使薄膜的载流子浓度大幅度地增加而电阻率下降，并且真空退火对薄膜的透射率影响不大。     

Effect of emitter layer doping concentration on the performance of silicon thin film heterojunction solar cell

A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15 nm)/a-Si:H(10 nm)/ epitaxial c-Si(47 μm)/epitaxial c-Si(3 μm) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot-wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of emitter layer S_d (S_d=PH₃/(PH₃+SiH₄+H₂)) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with S_d increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at S_d = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35 mA/cm², a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.     

对超声波作用下的化学浴沉积方法制备CdS薄膜的谱学分析

用化学浴沉积法制备了CdS薄膜 ,并研究了加超声波对CdS薄膜生长过程的影响。利用卢瑟福背散射 ,X 射线粉末衍射和扫描电子显微镜对薄膜的厚度、晶相和表面形貌进行了表征。结果表明施加超声波的作用能有效地改善薄膜的质量 ,制备出均匀、致密的有较好的晶体结构CdS薄膜。同时 ,通过时间的控制可以精确地控制薄膜在 5 0nm左右 ,以满足制备太阳能电池的特殊要求。     

前后光栅周期对于双光栅结构薄膜太阳能电池光俘获效应的影响

本文用时域有限差分法对硅层等效厚度为100 nm的具有不同前后光栅周期的介质/金属双光栅结构薄膜太阳能电池进行了模拟分析,比较了三角形最佳相同与不同周期光栅结构的吸收光谱特性,分析了光栅高度、填充比、硅吸收层厚度对最佳相同和不同周期光栅结构光吸收特性的影响,以及相应结构中导致光吸收增强的共振模式.结果表明前后光栅周期为1:1的共形双光栅结构中存在光泄漏现象,偏离1:1后的光栅结构可有效地抑制低级次衍射光的泄漏,前光栅周期小于后光栅周期的结构光吸收性能的提高来自于平面波导模式在吸收层中的有效激发和传播,而前光栅周期大于后光栅周期的结构光吸收性能的提高则来自于后光栅界面上所激发的等离子体极化模式.在较厚的硅吸收层厚度,前后光栅周期比为1:2和1:3的电池结构也会出现光泄漏现象,从而使具有最大光吸收效率的结构偏离这些周期比结构的位置.     

Effect of emitter layer doping concentration on the performance of a silicon thin film heterojunction solar cell

A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15nm)/a-Si:H(10nm)/ epitaxial c-Si(47μm)/epitaxial c-Si(3μm) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer S d (Sd =PH3 /(PH3 +SiH4 +H2 )) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with S d increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at S d = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35mA/cm2 , a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.