Hybrid polymer/inorganic nanoparticle blended ternary solar cells

Hybrid polymer/inorganic nanoparticle blended ternary solar cells are reported. These solar cells have an active layer consisting of PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs), poly (3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT), and [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Power conversion efficiency (PCE) was improved by incorporating PbS CQDs in the active layer of P3HT:PCBM‐based organic solar cells. As the concentration of PbS CQDs in the hybrid solar cells was increased, PCE was also increased. This improvement resulted from improved charge transfer and also extended light absorption into the near‐infrared. The PCE of the hybrid solar cells was 47% higher than that for reference organic solar cells on average under air mass 1.5 global illumination. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Correlation of band electronic structure with efficiency in perovskite solar cells with vanadium (Ⅳ) oxide thin film buffers

Perovskite solar cells have been studied extensively in the area of perovskite solar cells because they have a comparatively free hysteresis. Through fabrication of a perovskite solar cell based on a vanadium oxide buffer, this study clarified the mechanism of electron and hole transport in the laminated layer upon irradiation with light. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the Vanadium (Ⅳ) oxide (VO₂) sputtering process device was approximately 13% and with the spin-coating process was 8.5%. To investigate the physicochemical origin of such PCE differences depending on the process type, comprehensive band alignment and band structure analyses of the actual cell stacks were performed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth measurements. Accordingly, it was found that the inconsistent valence band offset between the perovskite absorption layer and V₂O₅ layer as a function of the VO₂ process type caused a difference in the hole transport, resulting in the difference in the efficiency.     

Improvement in IBC-silicon solar cell performance by insertion of highly doped crystalline layer at heterojunction interfaces

By inserting a thin highly doped crystalline silicon layer between the base region and amorphous silicon layer in an interdigitated back-contact(IBC) silicon solar cell, a new passivation layer is investigated. The passivation layer performance is characterized by numerical simulations. Moreover, the dependence of the output parameters of the solar cell on the additional layer parameters(doping concentration and thickness) is studied. By optimizing the additional passivation layer in terms of doping concentration and thickness, the power conversion efficiency could be improved by a factor of2.5%, open circuit voltage is increased by 30 mV and the fill factor of the solar cell by 7.4%. The performance enhancement is achieved due to the decrease of recombination rate, a decrease in solar cell resistivity and improvement of field effect passivation at heterojunction interface. The above-mentioned results are compared with reported results of the same conventional interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cell structure. Furthermore, the effect of a-Si:H/c-Si interface defect density on IBC silicon solar cell parameters with a new passivation layer is studied. The additional passivation layer also reduces the sensitivity of output parameter of solar cell to interface defect density.     

TiO2/SnO2 electron transport double layers with ultrathin SnO2 for efficient planar perovskite solar cells

The electron transport layer (ETL) plays an important role on the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Developing double ETL is a promising strategy to take the advantages of different ETL materials and avoid their drawbacks. Here, an ultrathin SnO₂ layer of ～ 5 nm deposited by atomic layer deposit (ALD) was used to construct a TiO₂/SnO₂ double ETL, improving the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 18.02% to 21.13%. The ultrathin SnO₂ layer enhances the electrical conductivity of the double layer ETLs and improves band alignment at the ETL/perovskite interface, promoting charge extraction and transfer. The ultrathin SnO₂ layer also passivates the ETL/perovskite interface, suppressing nonradiative recombination. The double ETL achieves outstanding stability compared with PSCs with TiO₂ only ETL. The PSCs with double ETL retains 85% of its initial PCE after 900 hours illumination. Our work demonstrates the prospects of using ultrathin metal oxide to construct double ETL for high-performance PSCs.     

Electronic properties and tunability in graphene/3D-InP mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure

InP solar cell is promising for space application due to its strong space radiation resistance and high power conversion efficient (PCE). Graphene/InP heterostructure solar cell is expected to have a higher PCE because strong near-infrared light can also be absorbed and converted additionally by graphene in this heterostructure. However, a low PCE was reported experimentally for Graphene/InP heterostructures. In this paper, electronic properties of graphene/InP heterostructures are calculated using density functional theory to understand the origin of the low PCE and propose possible improving ways. Our calculation results reveal that graphene contact with InP form a p-type Schottky heterostructure with a low Schottky barrier height (SBH). It is the low SBH that leads to the low PCE of graphene/InP heterostructure solar cells. A new heterostructure, graphene/insulating layer/InP solar cells, is proposed to raise SBH and PCE. Moreover, we also find that the opened bandgap of graphene and SBH in graphene/InP heterostructures can be tuned by exerting an electric field, which is useful for photodetector of graphene/InP heterostructures.     

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。     

Characterization of CBO and defect states of CZTSe solar cells prepared by using two-step process

We fabricated kesterite Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ (CZTSe) solar cells and studied device characteristics, where CZTSe absorbers were made by using two-step process. First, we deposited precursor CZTSe films with spin-coating or sputtering, and performed sulfurization and subsequent selenization. To complete the device, we applied In₂S₃ as a buffer layer. We obtained power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.18% with spin-coated CZTSe absorber and 5.60% with sputtered CZTSe absorber. Both devices showed deep defects in the bulk and strong interface recombinations near the pn junction. In addition, we observed red-kinks in the current density-voltage (J-V) curves for both devices under the filtered light illumination (>660 nm), which is attributed to large conduction band offset (CBO) between the CZTSe absorber and the buffer layer and defect states in the buffer/CZTSe absorber or in the buffer. The red-kink was also observed in CZTSe (PCE of 7.76%) solar cell with CdS buffer. Hence, to enhance the PCE with CZTSe absorber, along with suppression of deep defects which act as recombination center, optimization of CBO between absorber and buffer is also required.     

Optical properties of core/multishell CdSe/Zn(S,Se) nanocrystals

CdSe nanocrystals are now known as highly efficient fluorescent light sources. Their efficiency is however strongly dependent on the quality of the passivation layers. We show here that using a ZnSe/ZnS bi-layer shell leads to a larger photoluminescence yield than both ZnSe and ZnS simple shells. The intermediate ZnSe layer acts as a lattice parameter adaptation layer to improve on the core/shell interface quality, while the ZnS outer shell maximizes the exciton confinement.     

Modeling and simulation of experimentally fabricated QDSSC using ZnS as light absorbing and blocking layer

Abstract—Two main factors which limit the power conversion efficiency of solar cells are light absorption and recombination processes. In photovoltaic (PV) devices, low energy photons cannot be absorbed and excite electrons from valance band to conduction band, hence do not contribute to the current. On the other hand, high energy photons cannot be efficiently used due to a poor match to the energy gap. Existence of charge recombination in PV devices causes the low conversion performance, which is indicated by the low open-circuit voltage (V _OC ). Using a blocking layer in system could effectively reduce the recombination of charge carriers. In this study, we simulated a solar cell with ITO/ZnO/P3HT&PCBM/Ag structure. To prevent the charge recombination, a ZnS QD layer was used which acts as a light absorbing and a recombination blocking layer in the ITO/ZnO film/ZnS QD/P3HT&PCBM/Ag structure. The simulated J–V characteristics of solar cells showed a close match with the experimental results. Simulate data showed an increase of conversion efficiency in ZnS QDSSC from 1.71 to 3.10%, which is relatively 81.28% increase.     

Numerical analysis of ultrathin Sb2Se3-based solar cells by SCAPS-1D numerical simulator device

Antimony selenide is considering as an emerging photovoltaic solar cell absorber. In this paper, Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator in 1 Dimension (SCAPS-1D) is used to investigate the possibility of realizing ultrathin Sb₂Se₃-based solar cells. The comparison of the current-voltage characteristic and output performances simulation results of CdS/Sb₂Se₃ solar cells with and without HTL are in agreement with the experimental results. In the first step, by considering the cell without HTL, the best PCE of 5.29% is obtained with WS₂ buffer layer. Thereafter, we simulated the impact of the charge carriers diffusion length and the doping concentration on the output performances. By combining a high quality absorber and doping concentration in the order of 10¹⁵ cm⁻³, Sb₂Se₃ solar cell achieves high PCE above 10%. Secondly, we introduced a HTL between the absorber layer and back metal contact, which led to n-i-p configuration. This configuration with CZ-TA HTL shows a best PCE of 6.29%. For a high quality absorber, Sb₂Se₃-based solar cell achieves best PCE of 11.10% and better stability for a thickness of 250 nm and doping concentration of 10¹⁴ cm⁻³ of the Sb₂Se₃ absorber layer. Our numerical solar cell design provides an approach to further improve the efficiency of Sb₂Se₃-based solar cells.     

二甲基亚砜添加剂对聚合物太阳能电池性能的影响

研究了二甲基亚砜(DMSO)掺杂浓度对基于聚(3-己基噻吩)(P3HT)和(6,6)-苯基碳60丁酸甲酯(PCBM)为有源层的聚合物太阳能电池性能影响。结果表明,掺杂DMSO可以提高聚合物太阳能电池短路电流密度和填充因子。DMSO掺杂质量比为3%时,电池短路电流密度提高到7.88 mA·cm-2,填充因子为55.5%。能量转换效率达到2.54％,相比没有掺杂DMSO的电池,能量转换效率提高了17%。傅里叶变换红外光谱被用于鉴定和分析掺杂DMSO对材料P3HT∶PCBM化学性质的影响。傅里叶变换红外光谱表明,掺杂后P3HT和PCBM的化学性质都没有改变。为分析掺杂DMSO改善器件能量转换效率的原因,通过紫外-可见光谱和电流密度-电压特性曲线分别表征器件的光吸收能力以及电致发光器件的载流子迁移率。与P3HT∶PCBM薄膜相比,P3HT∶PCBM∶DMSO薄膜在可见光范围内的吸收峰有明显红移且吸收强度增强。可见光吸收的改善是实现短路电流密度提高的有力保障。太阳能电池性能的增强是因为DMSO的掺杂提高了P3HT∶PCBM的载流子迁移率和吸收光谱宽度。     

Bathocuproine/Ag复合电极对于聚合物光伏器件效率和稳定性的影响

采用Bathocuproine/Ag (BCP/Ag)复合电极代替Ca/Al复合电极, 制备PTB7:PC71BM 作为光敏层的聚合物光伏器件, 并通过改变BCP薄膜厚度来研究BCP/Ag复合电极对于器件光电转换器和稳定性的影响. 研究发现: 在光敏层和金属电极之间插入BCP修饰层后, 器件性能得到了显著的改善, 在BCP厚度为5 nm时, 器件的效率达到了6.82%, 且略高于Ca/Al复合电极的器件效率; 相比于采用Ca/Al复合电极的器件, BCP/Ag复合电极增大了器件的短路电流和外量子效率, 使器件效率得到提高; 同时器件的稳定性得到了显著的改善, BCP/Ag 复合电极器件的衰减速率几乎和未插入BCP的器件衰减速率相同, 相对于Ca/Al复合电极器件大幅提高.     

钙钛矿/硅叠层太阳电池中平面a-Si:H/c-Si异质结底电池的钝化优化及性能提高

最近,旋涂法制备的钙钛矿/平面硅异质结高效叠层太阳电池引起人们广泛关注,主要原因是相比于绒面硅衬底制备的钙钛矿/硅叠层太阳电池,其制备工艺简单、制备成本低且效率高.对于平面a-Si:H/c-Si异质结电池, a-Si:H/c-Si界面的良好钝化是获得高转换效率的关键,进而决定了钙钛矿/硅异质结叠层太阳电池的性能.本文主要从硅片表面处理、a-Si:H钝化层和P型发射极等方面展开研究,通过对硅片表面的氢氟酸(HF)浸泡时间和氢等离子体预处理气体流量、a-Si:H钝化层沉积参数、钝化层与P型发射极(I/P)界面富氢等离子体处理的综合调控,获得了相应的优化工艺参数.对比研究了p-a-Si:H和p-nc-Si:H两种缓冲层材料对I/P界面的影响,其中高电导、宽带隙的p-nc-Si:H缓冲层既能够降低I/P界面的缺陷态,又可以增强P型发射层的暗电导率,提高了前表面场效应钝化效果.通过上述优化,制备出最佳的P-type emitter layer/aSi:H(i)/c-Si/a-Si:H(i)/N-type layer (inip)结构样品的少子寿命与implied-Voc分别达到2855μs和709 mV,表现出良好的钝化效果.应用于平面a-Si:H/c-Si异质结太阳电池,转换效率达到18.76%,其中开路电压达到681.5 mV,相对于未优化的电池提升了34.3 mV.将上述平面a-Si:H/c-Si异质结太阳电池作为底电池,对应的钙钛矿/硅异质结叠层太阳电池的开路电压达到1780 mV,转换效率达到21.24%,证明了上述工艺优化能够有效地改善叠层太阳电池中的硅异质结底电池的钝化及电池性能.     

在电子传输层中添加PVK提高钙钛矿太阳能电池的性能

为了探究PVK对倒置平面异质结钙钛矿太阳能电池电子传输层的影响,向电子传输层PCBM中添加了一种富电子的聚乙烯基咔唑(PVK).采用原子力显微镜、PL光谱对薄膜进行了表征.实验结果表明:少量PVK的添加提高了覆盖在钙钛矿薄膜上PCBM层的平整度.当PVK的添加质量分数为4%时得到最佳器件效率,相比于纯PCBM作为电子传输层的器件,器件效率由(5.11±0.14)% 提升到(9.08±0.46)%.当PVK的添加质量分数大于4%时,粗糙度又趋于变大.PL光谱显示,少量PVK的加入使钙钛矿/电子传输层薄膜的PL强度降低,并使PL峰蓝移.研究表明:向PCBM中掺杂适量PVK能够改善钙钛矿/电子传输层/Al的界面接触,减少漏电流,并能够减少钙钛矿表面陷阱和晶界缺陷,减少电荷复合,从而提高了器件性能.     

Optoelectrical improvement of ultra‐thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells through microstructured MgF2 and Al2O3 back contact passivation layer

Decreasing the absorber layer thickness of thin‐film solar cells can be an effective solution for cost reduction of photovoltaic electricity generation. Unfortunately, this reduction leads to detrimental effects such as incomplete photon absorption and increased charge carrier recombination at the rear electrode. To tackle these losses in ultra‐thin 0.5 µm Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells, we developed different passivation structures made of MgF₂ and Al₂O₃ at the molybdenum–CIGS interface, leading to localized back contacts. The influence of the distance between those contacts on the cell performance was studied by varying the periodicity of the applied 1D patterns from 6 μm to 30 μm. Thus, an increase in performance was measured for microstructured layers with a periodicity of up to 12 µm. More precisely, a MgF₂ layer yielded an increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 9%_rel compared to an unpassivated cell design, and a passivation layer comprising Al₂O₃ led to up to a 5%_rel increase in PCE. The gains were primarily attributed to an increased reflectivity of the back contact, while the formation of a negative backside field in the case of Al₂O₃ might have contributed to this increase by preventing electrons from recombining at the backside interface. Our findings indicate a high lateral conductivity for holes inside the multicrystalline CIGS compound over few tens of micrometres, which allows an independent design of future back contacts and light‐trapping schemes.

False‐colour scanning electron microscopy cross‐section picture of a passivated solar cell, with the front contact layers coloured in green, the 0.5 µm CIGS absorber in dark red, the MgF₂ passivation layer in blue, and the Mo back contact in grey.     

Successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction of ZnSe shells for ZnO nanowire-based dye-sensitized solar cells

Thin ZnSe layers were deposited on ZnO nanowires by a novel successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction technique in order to solve recombination problems in ZnO nanowire-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Cell efficiency increased from 0.1 to 1.3–1.4% with the deposition of a 9- to13-nm-thick ZnSe shell on ZnO nanowires due to a large increase in J_SC. The dramatic increase in J_SC and cell efficiency is due to the facilitation of electron transfer related to ambipolar diffusion by the formation of a type II band alignment and the suppression of recombination in the presence of the ZnSe shell.     

Theoretical investigation on the passivation layer with linearly graded bandgap for the amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cell

Passivation layer with linearly graded bandgap (LGB) was proposed to improve the performance of amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell by eliminating the large abrupt energy band uncontinuity at the a‐Si:H/c‐Si interface. Theoretical investigation on the a‐Si:H(p)/the LGB passivation layer(i)/c‐Si(n)/a‐Si:H(i)/a‐Si:H(n⁺) solar cell via AFORS‐HET simulation show that such LGB passivation layer could improve the solar cell efficiency (η) by enhancing the fill factor (FF) greatly, especially when the a‐Si:H(p) emitter was not efficiently doped and the passivation layer was relatively thick. But gap defects in the LGB passivation layer could make the improvement discounted due to the open‐circuit voltage (V_OC) decrease induced by recombination. To overcome this, it was quite effective to keep the gap defects away from the middle of the bandgap by widening the minimum bandgap of the LGB passivation layer to be a little larger than that of the c‐Si base. The underlying mechanisms were analysed in detail. How to achieve the LGB passivation layer experimentally was also discussed. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Antimony Selenide Thin Film Solar Cells with an Electron Transport Layer of Alq_3

We fabricated Sb₂ Se₃ thin film solar cells using tris(8-hydroxy-quinolinato) aluminum(Alq₃) as an electron transport layer by vacuum thermal evaporation.Another small organic molecule of N,N’-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N’-bis(phenyl)benzidine(NPB) was used as a hole transport layer.We took ITO/NPB/Sb₂Se₃/Alq₃/Al as the device architecture.An open circuit voltage(V_oc) of 0.37 V,a short circuit current density(J_sc...     

硅异质结太阳电池的物理机制和优化设计

硅异质结太阳电池是一种由非晶硅薄膜层沉积于晶硅吸收层构成的高效低成本的光伏器件,是一种具有大面积规模化生产潜力的光伏产品.异质结界面钝化品质、发射极的掺杂浓度和厚度以及透明导电层的功函数是影响硅异质结太阳电池性能的主要因素.针对这些影响因素已经有大量的研究工作在全世界范围内展开,并且有诸多研究小组提出了器件效率限制因素背后的物理机制.洞悉物理机制可为今后优化设计高性能的器件提供准则.因此及时总结硅异质结太阳电池的物理机制和优化设计非常必要.本文主要讨论了晶硅表面钝化、发射极掺杂层和透明导电层之间的功函数失配以及由此形成的肖特基势垒;讨论了屏蔽由功函数失配引起的能带弯曲所需的特征长度,即屏蔽长度;介绍了硅异质结太阳电池优化设计的数值模拟和实践;总结了硅异质结太阳电池的研究现状和发展前景.     

Surface modulation of halide perovskite films for efficient and stable solar cells

As the main distribution place of deep-level defects and the entrance of water, the interface is critical to determining both the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and the stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Suitable interface design can dramatically passivate interface defects and optimize energy level alignment for suppressing the nonradiative recombination and effectively extracting the photogenerated carriers towards higher PCE. Meanwhile, a proper interface design can also block the interface diffusion of ions for high operational stability. Therefore, interface modification is of great significance to make the PSCs more efficient and stable. Upon optimized material choices, the three-dimensional halide perovskite graded junction layer, low-dimensional halide perovskite interface layer and organic salt passivation layer have been constructed on perovskite films for superior PSCs, yet a systematic review of them is missing. Thus, a guide and summary of recent advances in modulating the perovskite films interface is necessary for the further development of more efficient interface modification.