Understanding the junction degradation mechanism in CdS/CdTe solar cells using a Cd-deficient CdTe layer

It is known that CdTe solar cells are often degraded under solar illumination. But the degradation mechanism is not fully proved because it does not appear consistently. The junction degradation in CdS/CdTe solar cells was investigated using a CdTe layer with Cd deficient composition, where Cd vacancy concentration is high. It was found that the Cu atoms easily filled the Cd vacancies in CdTe and transport to junction area from Cu back contact. PL measurement and spectral quantum efficiency measurement showed that the incorporation of Cu atoms in CdS forms a defect energy level at 1.55 eV below the conduction band in CdS. As a result, the junction built-in potential is decreased and light penetration into CdTe absorber is shielded. For reliable and stable CdTe cells, the formation of Cd vacancy in CdTe should be avoided by careful control of CdTe.     

Short-circuit current improvement in CdTe solar cells by combining a ZnO buffer layer and a solution back contact

Conventional CdTe solar cells have a CdS window layer, in which an absorption loss of photons with more than 2.4 eV occurs through the CdS layer. A thinner CdS layer was applied to enhance light transmission and a ZnO buffer layer with a band gap of 3.3 eV was introduced to suppress shunting through the thinner CdS window layer. A 100-nm thick ZnO layer sputter-deposited at 300 °C had uniform coverage on a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) after a subsequent high-temperature process. The ZnO layer was effective in preventing shunting through the CdS window layer so that the open-circuit voltage and fill factor of the CdTe solar cells were recovered and the short-circuit current was enhanced over that of the conventional CdTe solar cell. In the ZnO/CdS/CdTe configuration, the short-circuit current was further improved throughout the visible wavelength region by replacing the Cu-metal contact with a Cu solution contact. As a result the short-circuit current from 21.7 to 26.1 mA/cm² and the conversion efficiency of the CdTe solar cell increased from 12 to 15% without antireflective coating. Our result indicates that the Cu solution back contact is a critical factor for achieving a higher cell efficiency in addition to ZnO buffer layer.     

Surface photovoltage for real n- and p-type in the visible and near spectroscopy (110) CdTe surfaces infra-red spectral range

Surface photovoltage spectroscopy has been carried out on real n- and p-type (110) CdTe surfaces in the wavelength range 0.36-1 μm at room temperature (300 K), and at atmospheric pressure. The measurements show the existence of surface states at 1.3; 1.48, and 1.2; 1.46 eV within the energy gap of n- and p-type CdTe, respectively. Surface states greater than the energy gap at 2.24, 2.38, 2.68, and 3.1 eV have also been detected in n-type samples and at 1.66, 2.12, 2.69 eV in p-type samples.     

The effect of Mn-doped ZnSe passivation layer on the performance of CdS/CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

ZnSe as a surface passivation layer in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells plays an important role in preventing charge recombination and thus improves the power conversion efficiency(PCE).However, as a wide bandgap semiconductor, ZnSe cannot efficiently absorb and convert long-wavelength light.Doping transition metal ions into ZnSe semiconductors is an effective way to adjust the band gap, such as manganese ions.In this paper, it is found by the method of density functional theory calculation that the valence band of ZnSe moves upward with manganese ions doping, which leads to acceleration of charge separation, wider light absorption range, and enhancing light harvesting.Finally, by using ZnSe doped with manganese ions as the passivation layer, the TiO_2/CdS/CdSe co-sensitized solar cell has a PCE of 6.12%, and the PCE of the solar cell increases by 9% compared with the undoped one(5.62%).     

Synthesis and optical characterization of nanocrystalline CdTe thin films

From several years the study of binary compounds has been intensified in order to find new materials for solar photocells. The development of thin film solar cells is an active area of research at this time. Much attention has been paid to the development of low cost, high efficiency thin film solar cells. CdTe is one of the suitable candidates for the production of thin film solar cells due to its ideal band gap, high absorption coefficient. The present work deals with thickness dependent study of CdTe thin films. Nanocrystalline CdTe bulk powder was synthesized by wet chemical route at pH≈11.2 using cadmium chloride and potassium telluride as starting materials. The product sample was characterized by transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. The structural characteristics studied by X-ray diffraction showed that the films are polycrystalline in nature. CdTe thin films with thickness 40, 60, 80 and 100 nm were prepared on glass substrates by using thermal evaporation onto glass substrate under a vacuum of 10⁻⁶ Torr. The optical constants (absorption coefficient, optical band gap, refractive index, extinction coefficient, real and imaginary part of dielectric constant) of CdTe thin films was studied as a function of photon energy in the wavelength region 400–2000 nm. Analysis of the optical absorption data shows that the rule of direct transitions predominates. It has been found that the absorption coefficient, refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) decreases while the values of optical band gap increase with an increase in thickness from 40 to 100 nm, which can be explained qualitatively by a thickness dependence of the grain size through decrease in grain boundary barrier height with grain size.     

Modulating the properties of monolayer C_2N: A promising metal-free photocatalyst for water splitting

Photocatalytic water splitting has gained increasing attention, since it utilizes renewable resources, such as water and solar energy, to produce hydrogen. Using the first-principles density functional theory, we investigate the properties of the single layer C_2N which was successfully synthesized. We reveal that monolayer C_2N has a substantial direct band gap of 2.45 eV. To regulate its band gap, four different nonmetal elements(B, O, P, and S) on the cation and anion sites are considered. Among them, B-doped N site is the most effective one, with the lowest formation energy and a band gap of 2.01 eV. P-doped N site is the next, with a band gap of 2.08 eV, though its formation energy is higher. The band alignments with respect to the water redox levels show that, for these two dopings, the thermodynamic criterion for the overall water splitting is satisfied. We therefore predict that B-or P-doped C_2N, with an appropriate band gap and an optimal band-edge position, would be a promising photocatalyst for visible-light water splitting.     

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.     

Recombination-induced voltage-dependent photocurrent collection loss in CdTe thin film solar cell

Recently, the efficiency of CdTe thin film solar cell has been improved by using new type of window layer Mg_xZn_1-xO (MZO). However, it is hard to achieve such a high efficiency as expected. In this report a comparative study is carried out between the MZO/CdTe and CdS/CdTe solar cells to investigate the factors affecting the device performance of MZO/CdTe solar cells. The efficiency loss quantified by voltage-dependent photocurrent collection efficiency (η_C(V')) is 3.89% for MZO/CdTe and 1.53% for CdS/CdTe solar cells. The higher efficiency loss for the MZO/CdTe solar cell is induced by more severe carrier recombination at the MZO/CdTe p—n junction interface and in CdTe bulk region than that for the CdS/CdTe solar cell. Activation energy (E_a) of the reverse saturation current of the MZO/CdTe and CdS/CdTe solar cells are found to be 1.08 eV and 1.36 eV, respectively. These values indicate that for the CdS/CdTe solar cell the carrier recombination is dominated by bulk Shockley—Read—Hall (SRH) recombination and for the MZO/CdTe solar cell the carrier recombination is dominated by the p—n junction interface recombination. It is found that the tunneling-enhanced interface recombination is also involved in carrier recombination in the MZO/CdTe solar cell. This work demonstrates the poor device performance of the MZO/CdTe solar cell is induced by more severe interface and bulk recombination than that of the CdS/CdTe solar cell.     

无机钙钛矿太阳能电池Cs2SnI6的电子结构和光学性质的第一性原理研究

近年来,Cs2SnI6作为一种无毒性、稳定性好的新型钙钛矿材料应用于太阳能电池中,其电池的光电转换效率由最初不到1%增长到现在的8.5%,使之成为有可能替代铅基钙钛矿太阳能电池的新型太阳能电池。本文采用基于广义密度泛函和杂化密度泛函的第一性原理方法研究了Cs2SnI6的电子结构、光学特性和钙钛矿太阳能电池的光电性能参数。研究结果表明,导带底和价带顶位于同一高对称点Γ而属于直接跃迁型半导体,且电子态主要来自于I-5p轨道和Sn-5s轨道。在近红外和可见光波长范围内有较高的吸收系数,当Cs2SnI6钙钛矿厚度达到10μm时,吸收率在311~989 nm之间接近100%,不考虑潜在损失的情况下,理论上太阳能电池可获得短路电流为32.86 mA/cm2、开路电压0.91 V、填充因子87.4%、光电转换效率26.1%。为实验上制备高效Cs2SnI6钙钛矿太阳能电池提供了参考。     

Directly Determining the Interface Structure and Band Offset of a Large-Lattice-Mismatched CdS/CdTe Heterostructure

The CdS/CdTe heterojunction plays an important role in determining the energy conversion efficiency of CdTe solar cells.However,the interface structure remains unknown,due to the large lattice mismatch between CdS and CdTe,posing great challenges to achieving an understanding of its interfacial effects.By combining a neuralnetwork-based machine-learning method and the stochastic surface walking-based global optimization method,we first train a neural network potential for CdSTe systems with demonstrated robustness and reliability.Based on the above potential,we then use simulated annealing to obtain the optimal structure of the CdS/CdTe interface.We find that the most stable structure has the features of both bulks and disorders.Using the obtained structure,we directly calculate the band offset between CdS and CdTe by aligning the core levels in the heterostructure with those in the bulks,using one-shot first-principles calculations.Our calculated band offset is 0.55 eV,in comparison with 0.70 eV,obtained using other indirect methods.The obtained interface structure should prove useful for further study of the properties of CdTe/CdS heterostructures.Our work also presents an example which is applicable to other complex interfaces.     

非晶硅太阳电池结构模拟设计

为了从理论上分析提高非晶硅太阳能电池的转化效率,运用微电子和光子结构分析一维器件模拟程序模拟非晶硅太阳电池a-SiC∶H/a-Si∶H/a-Si∶H结构,分析比较了不同前端接触透明导电层的功函数ФITO、禁带宽度、本征层厚度、掺杂浓度、缺陷态密度等因素对太阳电池性能的影响.模拟得到,在功函数达到5.1 eV,禁带宽度1.8 eV,本征层厚度265 nm等最优化条件下,非晶硅太阳能电池转化效率达到9.855%,比一般非晶硅太阳能电池转化效率高近2%.     

Electronic properties of cleaved CdTe(110) surfaces

Photoemission yield spectroscopy measurements were performed on a set of n- and p-doped CdTe single crystals. The surfaces were obtained by cleavage in ultrahigh vacuum and characterized by low energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. On clean and properly cleaved surfaces, no band bending was found, neither on n- nor on p-type samples, showing the absence of intrinsic surface states in the gap. The ionization energy is found at 5.80±0.05 eV. Oxygen adsorption removes defect-induced surface states on the valence band side of the gap and develops a band bending on n-type samples which indicates the presence of acceptor surface states in the gap down to 0.70 eV below the conduction band edge. The ionization energy remains constant.     

Effect of annealing on properties of electrochemically deposited CdTe thin films

Thin films of CdTe have been deposited onto stainless steel and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrates from aqueous acidic bath using electrodeposition technique. The different preparative parameters, such as deposition time, bath temperature and pH of the bath have been optimized by photoelectrochemical (PEC) technique to get good quality photosensitive material. The deposited films are annealed at different temperature in presence of air. Annealing temperature is also optimized by PEC technique. The film annealed at 200 °C showed maximum photosensitivity. Different techniques have been used to characterize as deposited and also as annealed (at 200 °C) CdTe thin film. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed the polycrystalline nature, and a significant increase in the XRD peak intensities is observed for the CdTe films after annealing. Optical absorption shows the presence of direct transition with band gap energy 1.64 eV and after annealing it decreases to 1.50 eV. Energy dispersive analysis by X-ray (EDAX) study for the as-deposited and annealed films showed nearly stoichiometric compound formation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that spherically shaped grains are more uniformly distributed over the surface of the substrate for the CdTe film.     

卟啉基非金属纳米片用于可见光光催化制氢

本文基于密度泛函理论预测了一种用于可见光范围光催化制氢的新型二维非金属纳米材料,该材料可以由HTAP分子脱氢聚合得到,具有良好的结构稳定性,且带隙为2.12 eV,可以实现可见光区域的光捕获. 材料的带边能级位置恰好包裹水的氧化还原电位,有利于实现全光解水. 电子的迁移率略高于空穴的迁移率,有利于光生载流子的分离. 光生电子可以提供足够的驱动力使得析氢反应自发进行.     

Influence of solvent on solution processed Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals and annealing induced changes in the optical,structural properties of CZTS film

The well-known quaternary Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) chalcogenide thin films are playing an important role in modern technology. The CZTS nanocrystal were successfully prepared by solution method using water, ethylene glycol and ethylenediamine as different solvent. The pure phase material was used for thin film coating by thermal evaporation method. The prepared CZTS thin films were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FESEM, XPS and FT-IR spectroscopy. The XRD and Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed the formation of polycrystalline CZTS thin film with tetragonal crystal structure after annealing at 450 ^°C. The oxidation state of the annealed film was studied by XPS. A direct band gap about 1.36 eV was estimated for the film from FT-IR studies, which is nearly close to the optimum value of band gap energy of CZTS materials for best solar cell efficiency. The CZTS annealed thin films are more suitable for using as a p-type absorber layer in a low-cost solar cell.     

Improved efficiency of small-molecular (S-M) tandem organic solar cells (TOSCs) by employing low work function alloy nanoparticle intermediate layer

We improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the small molecular (S-M) tandem organic solar cells (TOSCs) by employing different low work function alloy nanoparticle intermediate layers. The enhancement of the PCE was mainly attributed to the gap states formed at the interface between the buffer layer and alloy nanoparticle intermediate layer. The gap states result in the disappearance of the electron injection barrier. Compared with the planar heterojunction (PHJ) TOSCs with single Ag nanoparticle intermediate layer, the PCE of the PHJ TOSC with the Mg-Ag alloy nanoparticle intermediate layer exhibits an enhancement of 7.5%. Moreover, the Mg-Ag alloy nanoparticle intermediate layer was also employed in the bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) TOSCs. Compared with the PHJ TOSCs, the PCE of the BHJ TOSCs with Mg-Ag alloy nanoparticle intermediate layer is doubled and achieves a value of 5.54%.     

Electronic structures and energy band properties of Be- and S-doped wurtzite ZnO

The energy band properties, density of states, and band alignment of the BexZn1-xO1-ySy alloy （Be- and S-doped wurtzite ZnO） are investigated by the first-principles method. BexZn1-xO1-ySy alloy is a direct band gap semiconductor, the valence band maximum （VBM） and the conduction band minimum （CBM） of BexZn1-xO1-ySy are dominated by S 3p and Zn 4s states, respectively. The band gap and lattice constant of BexZn1-xO1-ySy alloy can be modulated by changing the doped content values x and y. With the increase in Be content value x in the BexZnl-xOl-ySy alloy, the band gap increases and the lattice constant reduces, but the situation is just the opposite when increasing the S content value y in the BexZn1-xO1-ySy alloy. Because the lattice constant of Be0.375Zn0.625O0.75S0.25 alloy is well matched with that of ZnO and its energy gap is large compared with that of ZnO, so the Be0.375Zn0.625O0.75S0.25 alloy is suitable for serving as the blocking material for a high-quality ZnO-based device.     

Investigation of CdS and CdTe thin films and influence of CdCl2 on CdTe/CdS structure

CdTe/CdS heterojunction solar cell structure has been fabricated using simple, easy and low-cost methods. To fabricate this structure, CdS and CdTe thin films are deposited onto FTO-coated conducting glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) and electrodeposition method, respectively. The optimized growth conditions are chosen for both CdS and CdTe films by investigating the optical, structural and morphological properties of both the as-deposited and annealed films. Optical measurement showed that CdS films have higher transmittance and lower absorbance, and CdTe films have lower transmittance and higher absorbance in the near infrared region. The band gap of CdS films is estimated to lie in the range 2.29–2.41 eV and that of CdTe films is in the range 1.53–1.55 eV. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study reveals that CdS and CdTe films are polycrystalline with preferential orientation of (1 1 1) plane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study reveals that both films are smooth, void-free and uniformly distributed over the surface of the substrate. Fabricated CdTe/CdS structure showed the anticipated rectifying behaviour, and the rectifying behaviour is observed to improve due to CdCl₂ treatment.     

Characteristic material parameters of CIGS solar cell related with device performance

CIGS solar cells with power conversion efficiency (PCE) in the range of 1.82%–12.30% were obtained by using two-step process, and were further analyzed through various measurement techniques. Material parameters showed diverse values and some trends depending on the device performance. The lower performance device showed small integrated PL intensity, short minority life time, larger defect density and lower activation energy, whereas the higher performance device showed opposite values. We investigated relationship between material parameters and PCE of solar cells, and found that some physical parameters such as integrated PL intensity, minority life time, defect density, and difference between band gap and activation energy (E_g-E_a), which all reflect defect states in bulk and at pn interface, are strongly related with PCE and would be used as a good indicator to evaluate device performance quickly.     

Impact of thermal annealing on physical properties of vacuum evaporated polycrystalline CdTe thin films for solar cell applications

A study on impact of post-deposition thermal annealing on the physical properties of CdTe thin films is undertaken in this paper. The thin films of thickness 500 nm were grown on ITO and glass substrates employing thermal vacuum evaporation followed by post-deposition thermal annealing in air atmosphere within low temperature range 150–350 °C. These films were subjected to the XRD, UV‐Vis NIR spectrophotometer, source meter, SEM coupled with EDS and AFM for structural, optical, electrical and surface topographical analysis respectively. The diffraction patterns reveal that the films are having zinc-blende cubic structure with preferred orientation along (111) and polycrystalline in nature. The crystallographic parameters are calculated and discussed in detail. The optical band gap is found in the range 1.48–1.64 eV and observed to decrease with thermal annealing. The current–voltage characteristics show that the CdTe films exhibit linear ohmic behavior. The SEM studies show that the as-grown films are homogeneous, uniform and free from defects. The AFM studies reveal that the surface roughness of films is observed to increase with annealing. The experimental results reveal that the thermal annealing has significant impact on the physical properties of CdTe thin films and may be used as absorber layer to the CdTe/CdS thin films solar cells.