SOLAR ENERGY
·
2023
·
IF 6.7
Yonggang Zhao,Qiaogang Song,Zhineng Zhou,Yufei Chen,Ying Zhang,Lang Wu,Xu Su,Xinghuan Hu,Shurong Wang
In the solution method, the surface morphology characteristic of the precursor film is essential for obtaining the high quality of the absorber layer. Herein, the post-heating treatment (PHT) precursor films were adopted to modify the morphology significantly and the effects of different PHT temperatures on the properties of precursor films, absorber layer films, and photovoltaic devices were investigated. The precursor film with a more porous surface could be obtained by PHT, which facilitates the downward diffusion of Se easily during sulfoselenization and the formation of a large-grain-spanning monolayer structure. Furthermore, the Cu 2 ZnSn(S, Se) 4 absorber layer surface holes were significantly reduced, owing to sufficient grain growth during sulfoselenization. As a result, the device efficiency with PHT was increased to 11.07% mainly due to improved Cu 2 ZnSn(S, Se) 4 absorber spectral response. This study might provide a new potential method for adjusting precursor film morphology and thus enhancing the corresponding device performance.
研究领域:
光伏技术
·
材料科学
·
薄膜太阳能电池
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Advanced Materials Interfaces
·
2022
·Vol. 9
·期 26
·2201049
·
IF 6.389
Yun Zhao,Qianqian Bai,Liqiang Chai,Xiaofei Dong,Jiangtao Chen,Jianbiao Chen,Yan Li,Xiuxun Han
Aiming at the current bottleneck of Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) thin film solar cells, an experimental analysis of the performance and loss mechanism of CZTSSe thin film solar cells upon proton radiation exposure is presented. In order to deduce the important cell parameters, the environment of the cells is simulated by subjecting the devices to 200 keV proton irradiation with fluences from 1 × 10 10 to 1 × 10 17 cm -2 . It is found that the damage constants are sensitive to the elemental diffusion at heterojunction and Na redistribution in device. The incidence of the proton can lead to bandgap, tails fluctuations, and Urbach energy changes in the cells those directly impact defects and structural disorder in CZTSSe material thereby the device performance. The time-resolved photoluminescence results show that the carrier lifetime is also very sensitive to the distribution of interface elements, especially Na, Cd, and S. These findings may provide new ideas for solving the V OC deficit of CZTSSe solar cells. From this work, it can be also suggested that the CZTSSe thin film solar cells are robust to proton irradiation and have the potential for future space applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光伏技术
·
辐射效应研究
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
GREEN CHEMISTRY
·
2014
·Vol. 17
·期 2
·1269-1275
·
IF 6.852
Qingwen Tian,Lijian Huang,Wangen Zhao,Yanchun Yang,Gang Wang,Daocheng Pan
Aqueous solution deposition of metal chalcogenide semiconductor thin films is considered a green and low-cost approach. However, it is hard to find a general aqueous solution approach to deposit various kinds of high-quality metal sulfide thin films. Here, we describe a green and robust ammonium thioglycolate aqueous solution approach, and fifteen types of metal sulfide precursor solutions (metal = Cu, Zn, Sn, Ge, In, Sb, Mg, Cd, Mn, Bi, Fe, Ni, Li, Na, K) can be prepared using metal oxides or metal hydroxides as raw materials at room temperature under an air atmosphere. Moreover, elemental sulfur and selenium can also be highly dissolved. By this green route, high quality CZTS nanocrystal thin films can be deposited by directly coating the mixed Cu, Zn, and Sn precursor solutions without the need for complex nanocrystal synthesis. The remarkable power conversion efficiency of 6.62% was achieved, which is the highest value for aqueous solution deposited CZTSSe thin film solar cells.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
可再生能源
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
AIP Advances
·
2021
·Vol. 11
·期 7
·
IF 1.548
Lv Xiaogong,Zhu Chengjun,Yang Yanchun,Liu Ruijian,Fan Wenliang,Wang Yiming
In this work, Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) precursor films were deposited using a water-based solution approach. Subsequently, selenization was performed at different temperatures in the range of 480–610 °C to prepare Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) absorber-layer films. The effects of the selenization temperature on the crystallinity, structure, morphology, and photoelectric properties of CZTSSe thin films, as well as the performance of solar cells constructed using these films, were systematically studied. The absorber-layer films selenized at different temperatures all formed pure-phase CZTSSe and had basically the same film thickness. It was found that application of an optimal selenization temperature can enhance the crystallinity, crystal grain size, and mobility and reduce the resistivity of CZTSSe films. Selenization at 550 °C resulted in the largest grain size (∼ μ m), the highest crystallinity, the highest mobility (4.29 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ), the lowest resistivity (3.13 × 10 2 Ω cm), the thinner fine-grained layer, a bandgap value of 1.21 eV, and a Cu-poor, Zn-rich elemental composition [Cu/(Zn + Sn) = 0.85 and Zn/Sn = 1.16]. The power-conversion efficiency was improved from 3.04% in a CZTSSe cell device with an absorber layer selenized at 480 °C to 4.69% in a film selenized at 550 °C. This was mainly due to the improvement of the crystallinity, crystal grain growth, and reduction of the fine-grained layer of the CZTSSe film. These results show that optimizing the selenization temperature is essential for enhancing the performance and the ultimate device efficiency of CZTSSe absorber layers prepared using a water-based solution approach.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Energy Materials
·
2024
·
IF 5.4
Boyang Han,Yongfeng Li,Rensheng Wang,Wenjie Zhu,Zhenyan He,Huanhuan Sun,Xiuqing Meng,Shihua Huang,Yanping Song,Jiayong Zhang,Bin Yao
Suppressing the CuZn antisite defects and band tailing states is paramount for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) solar cells. To this end, cation doping has been widely adopted and investigated. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there is a scarcity of reports specifically addressing the doping of group IIIA elements to date. Herein, we present a viable strategy, incorporating the Al element, to achieve superior absorber quality and device performance. The addition of Al-doping not only improves the selenization degree but also enhances surface smoothness and induces a more Cu-deficient CZTSSe surface, thereby elevating both the quality of the absorber and heterojunction interface. Furthermore, we observe that the CuZn defect can be effectively mitigated through the substitution of Al dopants at the Zn site, consequently resulting in a reduction of band tailing states. Consequently, it significantly improves the efficiency from 6.24 to 9.25% with a low open-circuit voltage deficit of ∼0.291 V relative to the doping-free case, one of the highest values for the type of IIIA element doping cells. Our results demonstrate that Al incorporation is also a feasible pathway to suppress the antisite defects and band tailing states in solution-processed CZTSSe, thereby facilitating the realization of efficient kesterite solar cells.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
可再生能源
·
太阳能电池技术
·
半导体物理
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
APPLIED PHYSICS A-MATERIALS SCIENCE & PROCESSING
·
2024
·Vol. 130
·期 3
·1-11
·
IF 2.5
Hu Jiaming,Han Xiuxun,Zhu Wuzhi,Wu Fangfang,Tan Xiaohui
Incorporating substitutional elements from groups I, II and IV is an important approach to improve the quality of kesterite thin films. Among the elements, Ag and Ge are most effective in promoting the performance of Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cells. Although several theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted on the Ag/Ge-alloyed kesterite, there are significant differences in the reported morphological characteristics, photovoltaic performance and even the optimal Ag/Ge substitution ratio due to different preparation processes utilized, which leads to difficulties in comparing the Ag-incorporated and Ge-incorporated kesterite solar cells. Currently, there is little literature on the comparative study concerned. Herein, we fabricated Ag-alloyed and Ge-alloyed kesterite solar cells based on the same solution method and process conditions, and laterally compared the effects of Ag substitution and Ge substitution on the phase compositions, morphologies, optical bandgaps, minority carrier lifetime and device performance of kesterite Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 thin films.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光伏技术
·
薄膜技术
·
固体物理
·
半导体器件
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Energy Chemistry
·
2019
·
IF 5.162
Lifang Teng,Junye Tong,Gang Wang,Lingling Wang,Liping Chen,Shaotong Wang,Yinglin Wang,Daocheng Pan,Xintong Zhang,Yichun Liu
Kesterite Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) solar cells have drawn worldwide attention for their promising photovoltaics performance and earth-abundant element composition, yet the record efficiency of this type of device is still far lower than its theoretical conversion efficiency. Undesirable band alignment and severe non-radiative recombination at CZTSSe/CdS heterojunction interfaces are the major causes limiting the current/voltage output and overall device performance. Herein, we propose a novel two-step CdS deposition strategy to improve the quality of CZTSSe/CdS heterojunction interface and thereby improve the performance of CZTSSe solar cell. The two-step strategy includes firstly pre-deposits CdS thin layer on CZTSSe absorber layer by chemical bath deposition (CBD), followed with a mild heat treatment to facilitate element inter-diffusion, and secondly deposits an appropriate thickness of CdS layer by CBD to cover the whole surface of pre-deposited CdS and CZTSSe layers. The solar energy conversion efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells with two-step deposited CdS layer approaches to 8.76% (with an active area of about 0.19 cm 2 ), which shows an encouraging improvement of over 87.98% or 30.16% compared to the devices with traditional CBD-deposited CdS layer without and with the mild annealing process, respectively. The performance enhancement by the two-step CdS deposition is attributed to the formation of more favorable band alignment at CZTSSe/CdS interface as well as the effective decrease in interfacial recombination paths on the basis of material and device characterizations. The two-step CdS deposition strategy is simple but effective, and should have large room to improve the quality of CZTSSe/CdS heterojunction interface and further lift up the conversion efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
OPTICAL MATERIALS
·
2019
·
IF 2.687
Yanling Wang,Yachao Du,Lingli Meng,Yueshu Li,Zhi Li,Qingwen Tian
Kesterite Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) has attracted much attention as an ideal absorber material for thin film solar cells. Solution deposition methods provide a crucial approach for lowering the fabricating price of CZTSSe based photovoltaic devices . Here, a low-cost and robust ethanol/thioglycolic acid/1-butylamine ternary solutions method was developed to fabricate the CZTSSe solar cells. Characterization was performed using XRD , Raman, and C–V, which showed that the material fabricated by this method expressed high-phase purity, suitable carrier concentration, and large depletion width, and those features are vital to high efficiency photovoltaic devices . Hence, based on this high quality CZTSSe absorbed layer, photovoltaic device with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 9.71% was achieved. The PCE can be further enhanced through passivating with alkali metal and optimizing the device fabrication conditions, making this method much promising for lowering the manufacturing cost of kesterite solar cells. Additionally, this approach is full of application prospect for other burgeoning photovoltaic absorber materials which could dramatically reduce the cost of solar electricity.
研究领域:
光伏技术
·
材料科学
·
薄膜技术
·
半导体材料
·
可再生能源
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
·
2023
·
IF 6.9
Haoyu Xu,Yuzhou Sun,Zhou Shen,Qing Zhou,Qingyun Zhu,Haifeng Gao,Chao Gao,Xiaoyun Teng,Yu Wei
In this paper, we prepared Na–K co-doped Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) films by solution method. By optimizing the distribution of the K-doping (uniform or localized K-doping) in the precursor films, the efficiencies of CZTSSe solar cells were improved. The effect of the K-doping distribution on the properties of CZTSSe films and solar cells were investigated. Compared to the solar cells without K-doping, the uniform K-doping in the precursor film increased the solar cell efficiency from 10.4% to 11.7%. In comparison, the localized K-doping in the bottom and in the top of the precursor films yielded solar cells with efficiencies of 12.4% and 10.1%, respectively. It was determined that the K-doping distribution primarily had an influence on carrier recombination in the depletion regions of CZTSSe solar cells. Whereas k-doping at the top of the precursor film greatly enhances the carrier recombination in the depletion region, the bottom doping has the opposite effect. The reason could be that the variation of the K-doping distribution modified the crystallization of the CZTSSe films. As the result, the defect properties of the CZTSSe films were altered. Moreover, the effect of the bottom K-doping on the back contact properties of CZTSSe solar cells was investigated by impedance spectroscopy . Though the K-doping can reduce the back contact barrier of the solar cell, the back contact barrier still achieved the height of 228 meV. The results indicated that the back contact barrier would be an important limiting factor for the efficiency of CZTSSe solar cell.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源科学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
·
2024
·
IF 6.3
Xiangyang Zhao,Lingling Wang,Yawei Wang,Xingyu Zhang,Rong Fang,Yue Zhou,Rui Guo,Xintong Zhang,Yichun Liu
Kesterite Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) thin film solar cells are considered a promising new type of film cell, due to their rich elemental reservation and excellent photovoltaic performance. However, the deleterious defects at the heterojunction interface severely hinder charge transport, separation, and extraction, significantly limiting the photovoltaic performance of CZTSSe solar cells. In this study, a simple method involving the incorporation of Cd 2+ and Ag + dual-ion at the heterojunction interface was proposed to reduce interfacial defects. The results showed that Cd 2+ and Ag + dual-ion interface deposition effectively reduced the [2Cu zn + Sn zn ] harmful defects near the heterojunction interface and subsequently reduced the number of recombination centers in the interface. This led to improved carrier recombination at the interface. Meanwhile, the devices achieved a wider depletion width, which was more favorable for carrier collection. Ultimately, the conversion efficiency increased by 32.81 %. This simple interface dual-ion deposition strategy offers a promising strategy for further enhancing the efficiency of CZTSSe cells.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光伏技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
·
2024
·
IF 6.3
Letu Siqin,Wenjing Xin,Ruijian Liu,Hongmei Luan,Lei Wang,Yiming Wang,Shuyu Li,Jingyuan Guo,Yu He,Jiayong Zhang,Bin Yao,Chengjun Zhu
Interfaces quality have always been considered the key factors in the fabrication of efficient Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) solar cells, and harmful defects at the interface can significantly reduce the performance of the device. Here, we propose a dual passivation strategy by adding Na to the surface of the absorber layer (CZTSSe) to passivate the CZTSSe/CdS interface and treating the buffer layer (CdS) using ultraviolet (UV) irradiation to passivate the CdS/ZnO interface. Due to the Na doping passivation, the absorber surface conductivity increases while the roughness decreases and detrimental defects that can lead to nonradiative recombination are reduced. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cell is improved by about 1 percentage point by Na passivation. The contributions of open-circuit voltage ( V oc ), short-circuit current density ( J sc ), and fill factor (FF) to the improvement of PCE have been quantified as 50.64%, −5.58%, and 54.94%, indicating that Na doping can significantly boost V oc and FF. UV-ozone passivation reduces residual carbon organics in the CdS buffer layer , weakens carrier recombination, allows for more light absorption , and widens the depletion region , which favors efficient carrier collection. The estimated contribution of V oc , J sc , and FF to the PCE of the device is 8.78%, 119.59%, and −28.37%, respectively, demonstrating that UV-ozone passivation can significantly improve the J sc of the device. The two passivation strategies complement each other's advantages and achieve a synergistic effect . Our prepared champion device exhibits a PCE of 10.69% and remarkable long-term stability.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光伏技术
·
界面工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ENERGY & FUELS
·
2024
·
IF 5.2
Haixuan Gao,Chuanhe Ma,Jinhui Zhang,Jinchun Jiang,Ye Chen,Lin Sun,Hailong Wang
In the prior art of CZTSSe solar cells, the traditional cadmium salt (Cd-salt) CdSO4 is widely considered as a common raw material for preparing CdS buffer layers. However, in this study, we systematically demonstrated the phase structure and transmission spectra improvement effect of the other three types of Cd-salts, Cd(NO3)2, CdCl2, and CdAc2, on the CZTSSe/CdS heterojunction (HJT) compared to CdSO4. CZTSSe/CdS HJT prepared by Cd(NO3)2 showed the strongest CdS phonon characteristic peaks at 295.9 and 597.6 cm–1, indicating a pure crystal phase. The transmittance of CdS films prepared by Cd(NO3)2 is 20–35% higher than the other three Cd-salts in the light range of 350–1000 nm, which effectively improved the band gap of the films (2.41 eV) and depressed the photon absorption and scattering. Accordingly, CZTSSe solar cells based on the aforementioned Cd-salts showed that Cd(NO3)2 possessed the best ability to improve the photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE), about 5.7% more than the traditional CdSO4 salt. After Sn2+ replaced by Sn4+ in the precursor solution, the PCE of CZTSSe solar cells using Cd(NO3)2 exceeded 10% (Total area = 0.21 cm2, PCE = 10.23%, VOC = 0.485 V, JSC = 31.4 mA/cm2, FF = 67.1%, without MgF2 antireflective layer).
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光伏技术
·
可再生能源
·
半导体物理
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）