Progress in Photovoltaics最新文献

{"title":"Influence of Substrate on Sb2Se3/CdS Heterojunction Thin Film Solar Cells and Evaluation of Their Performance by Dark J-V Analysis","authors":"Srinivasan Moosi Govindharajulu,&nbsp;Rohini Anandan,&nbsp;Ramakrishna Madaka,&nbsp;Jatindra Kumar Rath,&nbsp;Malar Piraviperumal","doi":"10.1002/pip.3853","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3853","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>A simple binary antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃) absorber is evolving as an alternative photovoltaic material in thin film solar cells because of its unique properties and easy processing. Sb₂Se₃ thin films having good crystalline quality are grown via versatile thermal evaporation from pre-synthesized near stoichiometric compound material on molybdenum-coated soda lime glass (SLG) and borosilicate glass (BG) substrates. Following the systematic characterizations on the absorber films, substrate configured Sb₂Se₃/CdS heterojunction devices were fabricated and their photovoltaic characteristics have been studied using current density vs. voltage (J-V), dark J-V modeling, external quantum efficiency and capacitance vs. voltage measurements. The power conservation efficiency values of 4.88% and 5.04% were achieved for the devices fabricated on SLG and BG substrates, respectively with deficit in open circuit voltage. The obtained values are higher in comparison to the reported device efficiencies in substrate configured Sb₂Se₃ solar cells, in which the absorber is prepared through thermal evaporation. To understand the loss in open circuit voltage_, a compact equivalent circuit model was considered and identified the contribution of different shunt leakage paths in the devices. In addition to that, the device fabricated on the SLG was stable with minimal changes in its photovoltaic performance for a period spanning over 200 days. The results obtained are encouraging with scope for improving the device performance through interface engineering and back surface passivation strategies.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"357-371"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143118395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Influence of MoS2 Thickness on the Efficiency of Solar Energy Conversion in TiO2/MoS2/P3HT Cells","authors":"Kamila Kollbek,&nbsp;Łukasz Jarosiński,&nbsp;Paweł Dąbczyński,&nbsp;Piotr Jabłoński,&nbsp;Marta Gajewska,&nbsp;Piotr Jeleń,&nbsp;Jakub Rysz,&nbsp;Konrad Szaciłowski,&nbsp;Marek Przybylski","doi":"10.1002/pip.3856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3856","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In the era of global energy crisis, more attention is paid to efficient energy harvesting from renewable sources. Solar power is one of those widely utilized, yet the efficiency of devices converting energy needs to be constantly improved. One of the ideas is to create solar cells that benefit from 2D van der Waals structures combined with other materials such as TiO₂ and conductive polymers. Such hybrid solar cells show higher power conversion compared to non-composite photovoltaic devices. In this work, a TiO₂/MoS₂ heterojunction created in the magnetron sputtering process was covered with a P3HT polymer coating. Composite multilayer systems were investigated (TEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy and TOF-SIMS) to define the composition, optical properties and solar energy conversion potential. The photovoltaic response of the multilayer system was successfully improved by MoS₂ band gap engineering based on the quantum size effect. Furthermore, TiO₂/MoS₂/P3HT revealed enhanced optical properties and improved charge transport performance with reasonable energy band alignment. The photovoltaic efficiency of hybrid cells doubled compared to previously published work and reached 2.7%. Furthermore, the photovoltaic performance of the solar cells based on TiO₂/MoS₂/P3HT exhibited an improvement compared to that of the solar cell based on TiO₂/P3HT or MoS₂/P3HT.</p>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"344-356"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pip.3856","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143116171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding Heat Dissipation Factors for Fixed-Tilt and Single-Axis Tracked Open-Rack Photovoltaic Modules: Experimental Insights","authors":"Johannes Pretorius,&nbsp;Shaun Nielsen","doi":"10.1002/pip.3852","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3852","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper presents the results of long-term experiments conducted on fixed-tilt (FT) and single-axis tracked (SAT) open-rack photovoltaic (PV) modules in South Africa. Utilising Faiman's heat dissipation model and data filtering method, the study demonstrates favourable comparisons of FT experimental results with literature while yielding novel heat dissipation factors for SAT modules. Enhanced heat dissipation is observed in no/low wind conditions for SAT modules compared to FT modules. Analyses reveal the influence of plane-of-array (POA) irradiance, wind speed and direction on module temperature, with SAT modules exhibiting greater heat dissipation stability. An investigation into data filtering methods suggests minor sensitivity for both configurations, with a slightly more pronounced impact on SAT modules. Assessments comparing module temperature predictions using diverse heat dissipation factors for FT modules reveal negligible sensitivity. This suggests that exact heat dissipation factor values may not be crucial for accurate predictions of module temperature in FT open-rack systems. Annual power output simulations using PVsyst software demonstrate a 2.9% and 3.3% enhancement for FT and SAT configurations, respectively, when employing experimentally determined heat dissipation factors. These findings highlight the importance of realistic, configuration-specific heat dissipation factors in optimising PV system performance, particularly in the competitive context of modern PV power plant construction and techno-economic calculations.</p>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"326-343"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pip.3852","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143115263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Single-Axis Tracking and Bifacial Gain on Sloping Terrain","authors":"Javier R. Ledesma,&nbsp;Eduardo Lorenzo,&nbsp;Luis Narvarte","doi":"10.1002/pip.3847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3847","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper describes a mathematical model for dealing with large bifacial single-axis tracking photovoltaic (PV) plants over terrain of arbitrary orientation and slope. The only constraint is that the ground surface and the plane of the tracker axes must be parallel. This allows for two-dimensional (2D) modelling of the ground shading scene required for backtracking geometry and rear irradiance calculations. The model has been implemented in SISIFO, an open PV simulation tool developed by IES-UPM, which is slope aware since June 2022. In addition, a set of equations for upgrading tracker controllers, previously restricted to horizontal terrains, is also provided. As a representative case, a real 90 MW_p PV plant installed on an uneven terrain is analysed. The orography of the ground is described as a set of facets with different azimuth and slope angles. The plant is also described by the relative frequency distribution of the STC power over the different facets. A dedicated simulation exercise is then performed for each facet. Depending on the azimuth and slope values, the resulting final energy yield may be higher or lower than that associated with a horizontal terrain. The yield of the whole PV plant is calculated as a weighted average of the results, with the relative frequency being the averaging factor. If the plant is placed on favourable facets, the energy yield of the whole plant can be close to that calculated on horizontal terrain, at the cost of discarding a part of the available land. In this case, a 0.4% increase in yield is obtained at the cost of discarding about 40% of the available land.</p>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"309-325"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pip.3847","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143113870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigation on Effects of the Laser-Enhanced Contact Optimization Process With Ag Paste in a Boron Emitter for n-TOPCon Solar Cell","authors":"Qinqin Wang,&nbsp;Kaiyuan Guo,&nbsp;Siwen Gu,&nbsp;Wei Huang,&nbsp;Wangping Wu,&nbsp;Jianning Ding","doi":"10.1002/pip.3854","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3854","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>TOPCon solar cell with boron (B)-doped emitters plays an important role in photovoltaic cell technology. However, a major challenge to further improving the metallization-induced recombination and electrical contact of B-doped emitters. Laser-enhanced contact optimization (LECO) technology is one of ideal candidates for reducing the metallization recombination and contact resistivity. In this study, we investigate the influence of LECO technology using special Ag paste with a decreased Pb content on the performance of the metallization-induced recombination (<i>J</i>_<i>0</i>,_<i>metal</i>), contact resistivity (<i>ρ</i>_<i>c</i>), microtopography of the contact, the <i>I–V</i> parameters, and possible conductive mechanisms. The results showed that the linear resistivity is reduced from 3.56 to 2.60 μΩ·cm owing to special Ag paste, and after LECO treatment, it also has lower <i>ρ</i>_<i>c</i> about 0.91 mohm·cm². Both of them have a large contribution to the FF enhancement. Meanwhile, the <i>J</i>_{<i>0,metal</i>} drops from 500 to 200 fA/cm², which provides a great contribution to the improvement in open-circuit voltage. The efficiency improved by 0.26% absolute to 25.94%, mainly because of the increased open-circuit voltage (<i>V</i>_<i>oc</i>) of 4 mV and a fill factor (FF) of 0.26%. Simulated by COMSOL, the electron concentration rises to 4 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ after LECO treatment, which can generate a larger reverse current to provide a melting temperature for the glass frit, increasing the interface glass phase conductivity. The possible current transport mechanism of LECO is current tunneling effect, resulting in the decrease in the metallization recombination. After the optimization of the LECO process with low-corrosion paste, we manufactured industrial-grade TOPCon cells with <i>E</i>_<i>ff</i>, <i>V</i>_<i>oc</i>, <i>J</i>_<i>sc</i>, and FF values as high as 26.5%, 736 mV, 42.1 mA/cm², and 85.5%, respectively.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"294-308"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143113120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Post-Mortem Analysis of Building-Integrated Flexible Thin Film Modules","authors":"Aldo Kingma,&nbsp;Helena Kirchner Sala,&nbsp;Leonard Simeonov,&nbsp;Rémi Aninat,&nbsp;Simona Villa,&nbsp;Klaas Bakker,&nbsp;Monique van den Nieuwenhof,&nbsp;Dorrit Roosen,&nbsp;Joris de Riet,&nbsp;Marc Koetse,&nbsp;Bart van de Vorst,&nbsp;Henk Steijvers,&nbsp;Mirjam Theelen","doi":"10.1002/pip.3846","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3846","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Flexible, lightweight thin film (TF) photovoltaic (PV) modules offer a unique opportunity for integration into non-planar surfaces unable to support heavy weights. While such applications increase the potential for PV in urban areas, the reliability implications are yet to be investigated. Here, prototypes of corrugated rooftiles with integrated Cu (In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) modules were investigated after 3 years of outdoor operation. Their performance before and after the outdoor exposure was compared and defects were localized. An unpackaging method was developed, allowing access to the solar cells for more detailed characterization of present defects without causing additional damage or changes to existing defects. To our knowledge, this was the first time such an unpackaging method was successfully applied to flexible TF PV modules. The relative efficiency loss ranged from 17% to 43%, mostly due to short-circuit current (I_SC) loss and series resistance (R_S) increase. The predominant cause of the R_S increase was the delamination at the interconnects, ascribed to thermomechanical stresses caused by outdoor temperature fluctuations. The I_SC loss was mainly caused by localized delamination of CIGS from the molybdenum (Mo) back-contact. The occurrence of such delaminated areas pointed to presence of high local stresses during outdoor operation, possibly due to thermal fluctuations, applied deformation and/or mechanical impact. Two other types of delamination defects were found with no observable impact on performance. These results show the necessity for further optimization in the material choice and processing of TF flexible modules, to avoid mechanical stress related failures upon integration into curved surfaces.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"276-293"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143113119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of Ga Variation on the Bulk and Grain-Boundary Properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Absorbers in Thin-Film Solar Cells and Their Impacts on Open-Circuit Voltage Losses","authors":"Sinju Thomas,&nbsp;Wolfram Witte,&nbsp;Dimitrios Hariskos,&nbsp;Stefan Paetel,&nbsp;Chang-Yun Song,&nbsp;Heiko Kempa,&nbsp;Matthias Maiberg,&nbsp;Nora El-Ganainy,&nbsp;Daniel Abou-Ras","doi":"10.1002/pip.3843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3843","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Polycrystalline widegap Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe) absorbers for top cells in photovoltaic tandem devices can be synthesized via [Ga]/([Ga] + [In]) (GGI) ratios of &gt; 0.5. However, the power conversion efficiencies of such high-GGI devices are smaller than those of the record cells with GGI &lt; 0.5. In the present work, the effects of the GGI ratio on various CIGSe material properties were studied and correlated with the radiative and nonradiative open-circuit voltage (<i>V</i>_OC) deficits of the thin-film solar cells. Average grain sizes, grain boundary (GB) recombination velocities, fluctuations in luminescence energy distribution, barrier heights at GBs, effective electron lifetimes, and Urbach energies were investigated in five solar cells with GGI ratios from 0.13 to 0.83. It was found that the GGI variation affects GB recombination velocities, fluctuations in spatial luminescence distributions, the average grain size, the electron lifetime, and the Urbach energy. In contrast, the detected ranges of barrier heights at GBs are independent of the GGI ratio. Mainly Ga/In gradients give rise to substantial radiative <i>V</i>_OC losses in all solar cells. Nonradiative <i>V</i>_OC deficits are dominant especially for solar cells with GGI &gt; 0.5, which can be attributed to low bulk lifetimes and enhanced recombination at GBs in CIGSe absorbers in this compositional range.</p>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"265-275"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pip.3843","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CuIn (Se,Te)2 Absorbers With Bandgaps <1 eV for Bottom Cells in Tandem Applications","authors":"Thomas Paul Weiss,&nbsp;Mohit Sood,&nbsp;Aline Vanderhaegen,&nbsp;Susanne Siebentritt","doi":"10.1002/pip.3851","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3851","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Thin-film solar cells reach high efficiencies and have a low carbon footprint in production. Tandem solar cells have the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of this technology, where the bottom-cell is generally composed of a Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ absorber layer with bandgaps around 1 eV or higher. Here, we investigate CuIn(Se_1 − xTe_x)₂ absorber layers and solar cells with bandgaps below 1 eV, which will bring the benefit of an additional degree of freedom for designing current-matched two-terminal tandem devices. We report that CuIn(Se_1 − xTe_x)₂ thin films can be grown single phase by co-evaporation and that the bandgap can be reduced to the optimum range (0.92–0.95 eV) for a bottom cell. From photoluminescence spectroscopy, it is found that no additional non-radiative losses are introduced to the absorber when adding Te. However, \u0000<span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msub>\u0000 <mi>V</mi>\u0000 <mi>OC</mi>\u0000 </msub>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {V}_{OC} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> losses occur in the final solar cell due to non-optimized interfaces. Nevertheless, a device with 9% power conversion efficiency is demonstrated with a bandgap of 0.97 eV and \u0000<span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>x</mi>\u0000 <mo>=</mo>\u0000 <mn>0.07</mn>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ x&amp;amp;#x0003D;0.07 $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>, the highest efficiency so far for chalcopyrites with band gap &lt;1 eV. Interface recombination is identified as a major recombination channel for larger Te contents. Thus, further efficiency improvements can be expected with improved absorber/buffer interfaces.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"33 2","pages":"253-264"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143112159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigation of Potential-Induced Degradation and Recovery in Perovskite Minimodules","authors":"Junchuan Zhang,&nbsp;Haodong Wu,&nbsp;Yi Zhang,&nbsp;Fangfang Cao,&nbsp;Zhiheng Qiu,&nbsp;Minghui Li,&nbsp;Xiting Lang,&nbsp;Yongjie Jiang,&nbsp;Yangyang Gou,&nbsp;Xirui Liu,&nbsp;Abdullah M. Asiri,&nbsp;Paul J. Dyson,&nbsp;Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin,&nbsp;Jichun Ye,&nbsp;Chuanxiao Xiao","doi":"10.1002/pip.3848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3848","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Potential-induced degradation (PID) is a prevalent concern in current commercial photovoltaic technologies, impacting their reliability, with the mechanistic basis for PID in perovskite photovoltaic technologies being poorly understood. Here, we investigate the PID mechanism in perovskite minimodules. Our findings reveal nonuniform degradation in the photoluminescence intensity and spectral blue shift. After 60-h laboratory PID stress tests at −1500 V and 60°C, device efficiency drastically decreases by 96%, and the shunt resistance decreases by 97%, accompanied by a significant quantity of Na⁺ ions (derived from the soda lime glass) throughout the device structure, leading to a typical PID-shunting effect. Interestingly, we observed a rapid recovery of device performance during room-temperature dark storage, in which Na⁺ ions located close to the glass substrate side rapidly migrated out of the device. Moreover, we also found that the Na⁺ ions do not appear to diffuse through the grain boundaries but rather their neighboring area and grain interiors, judging by microscopic conductivity mappings.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"32 12","pages":"941-949"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142665198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of Ag Addition on the Microscopic Material Properties of (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se2 Absorbers and Their Effects on Losses in the Open-Circuit Voltage of Corresponding Devices","authors":"Sinju Thomas,&nbsp;Wolfram Witte,&nbsp;Dimitrios Hariskos,&nbsp;Rico Gutzler,&nbsp;Stefan Paetel,&nbsp;Chang-Yun Song,&nbsp;Heiko Kempa,&nbsp;Matthias Maiberg,&nbsp;Daniel Abou-Ras","doi":"10.1002/pip.3845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3845","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ag alloying of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe) absorbers in thin-film solar cells leads to improved crystallization of these absorber layers at lower substrate temperatures than for Ag-free CIGSe thin films as well as to enhanced cation interdiffusion, resulting in reduced Ga/In gradients. However, the role of Ag in the microscopic structure–property relationships in the (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se₂ thin-film solar cells as well as a correlation between the various microscopic properties of the polycrystalline ACIGSe absorber and open-circuit voltage of the corresponding solar cell device has not been reported earlier. In the present work, we study the effect of Ag addition by analyzing the differences in the various bulk, grain-boundary, optoelectronic, emission, and absorption-edge properties of ACIGSe absorbers with that of a reference CIGSe absorber. By comparing thin-film solar cells with similar band-gap energies ranging from about 1.1 to about 1.2 eV, we were able to correlate the differences in their absorber material properties with the differences in the device performance of the corresponding solar cells. Various microscopic origins of open-circuit voltage losses were identified, such as strong Ga/In gradients and local compositional variations within individual grains of ACIGSe layers, which are linked to absorption-edge broadening, lateral fluctuations in luminescence-energy distribution, and band tailing, thus contributing to radiative <i>V</i>_OC losses. A correlation established between the effective electron lifetime, average grain size, and lifetime at the grain boundaries indicates that enhanced nonradiative recombination at grain boundaries is a major contributor to the overall <i>V</i>_OC deficit in ACIGSe solar cells. Although the alloying with Ag has been effective in increasing the grain size and the effective electron lifetime, still, the Ga/In gradients and the grain-boundary recombination in the ACIGSe absorbers must be reduced further to improve the solar-cell performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":223,"journal":{"name":"Progress in Photovoltaics","volume":"32 12","pages":"930-940"},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/pip.3845","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142665008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}