{"title":"Less is more: Enabling low-filled electrically conductive adhesives for shingled solar cell interconnection using the capillary suspension concept","authors":"Marianne Kronsbein , Leonhard Böck , Katrin Dyhr , Torsten Rößler , Norbert Willenbacher","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113603","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113603","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lead-free, low temperature materials for solar cell interconnection gain relevance in upcoming cell and module concepts. Electrically Conductive Adhesives (ECAs) are such materials but typically come with a high silver content. We herein give an overview on ECA requirements for shingled cell interconnection. Regular ECAs and stabilized ECAs with varying filler content were characterized regarding their rheological, curing, electrical and mechanical behaviour and their performance in modules. It was found that 20 vol% silver is necessary to meet the electrical requirements with a regular epoxy-based ECA containing micron-sized silver flakes. Regarding mechanical properties, as little filler as possible is favourable. To fulfil both the electrical and mechanical requirements, application of the capillary suspension concept to ECAs was found to be suitable. Such an ECA with only 5 vol% silver filler exhibits a volume and contact resistivity of (4.5 ± 0.5) 10<sup>−3</sup> Ω cm and (0.026 ± 0.006) mΩ cm<sup>2</sup>, resp., and a high lap-shear strength of (17 ± 4) MPa. Testing at both 140 °C and 200 °C curing temperatures showed that modules with low-filled and highly-filled ECAs achieved comparable initial efficiencies. After damp heat (DH500) testing, modules with capillary suspension ECA showed an efficiency loss of −0.8 % ± 0.4 %, compared to −2.5 % ± 1.1 % for highly-filled ECA. After thermal cycling (TC200), losses were −0.6 % ± 0.5 % versus −1.1 % ± 0.5 %. Both ECA types maintained efficiency losses below 1 % in mechanical load tests. These results demonstrate the potential for silver reduction in shingled solar cell modules through the capillary suspension concept.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 113603"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143705825","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":"An improved electrical model for accurate and efficient simulation of TOPCon solar cells","authors":"Bo Hu , Jianjing Li , Shihuang Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113590","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113590","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this work, we investigate the current–voltage characteristics of n-type TOPCon solar cells through numerical simulations, with a focus on introducing a novel discretization method, improving the numerical calculation of tunneling probabilities, and analyzing the impact of fixed positive charges within the ultrathin oxide layer on device performance. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed improved Scharfetter–Gummel method achieves higher computational accuracy and stability in heavily doped regions, effectively reducing errors under low-current conditions. Additionally, the symmetrized transfer matrix method is extended to calculate tunneling probabilities through ultrathin oxide layers, ensuring both high accuracy and computational efficiency in the simulated current density. Furthermore, for thicker oxide layers, without increased recombination, higher fixed positive charge concentrations in the ultrathin oxide layer enhance electron tunneling, directly improving photoelectric conversion efficiency. This research provides theoretical insights and methodological guidance for the precise modeling and optimization of TOPCon solar cells and semiconductor devices, particularly those featuring a relatively high proportion of heavily doped regions and ultrathin tunneling layers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 113590"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143705824","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}
Rémi Monna, Jules Clerjon, Vincent Barth, Didier Therme, Anne-Sophie Ozanne, Johann Jourdan, Eszter Voroshazi
{"title":"Use of Cu ribbons and Cu-Ag HJT cell metallization on ECA based interconnection for PV modules","authors":"Rémi Monna, Jules Clerjon, Vincent Barth, Didier Therme, Anne-Sophie Ozanne, Johann Jourdan, Eszter Voroshazi","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113594","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113594","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The availability of Silver is probably the main concern for PV cell's metallization and interconnection. It is then a critical element in most scenarios at the terawatt scale, reducing its usage is hence of prime interest. As a low temperature method, Electrically Conductive Adhesives (ECA) curing process has proved its worth in recent years. This interconnection technology shows also the advantage of high mechanical performances. This paper highlights the latest results obtained on the interconnection of HJT solar cells with ECA bonding material, focusing on the silver consumption reduction by the use of the latest generation of low-silver ECAs.</div><div>In this study, three different ECA formulations were compared and investigated, ensuring their compatibility with ribbon coated by different conductive materials (Ag, SnAg and bare Cu). Finally, the introduction of Cu-Ag pastes for cell metallization was evaluated. We show that the new low-silver ECAs can even outperform previous-generation ECAs demonstrating higher performance and reliability. We also show a slight drop in performance of these new ECAs in combination with Sn/Cu ribbons, maintaining the reliability. Combining low-Ag ECAs with Sn ribbons can result in a silver content reduction of 6 mg/Wp, and even up to 8 mg/Wp with bare Cu ribbons to reach 14mg/Wp total consumption in the module.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 113594"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697765","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}
Qi Lei , Liang He , Jianmin Li , Jinbing Zhang , Dongli Hu
{"title":"Casting high-performance hybrid Si ingot by induced partition layer","authors":"Qi Lei , Liang He , Jianmin Li , Jinbing Zhang , Dongli Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113599","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113599","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents a novel hybrid casting method for silicon ingot preparation, designed to overcome the challenges of unstable crystal quality, low monocrystallinity, and high defect density in large-scale production of cast monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si). The approach introduces a partition layer that effectively suppresses competitive growth between multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) and mono-Si, thereby enhancing the proportion and quality of the mono-Si region. Experimental results demonstrate that the mono-Si region of the hybrid ingot exhibits nearly complete monocrystallinity, while the partition layer reduces crystal defect propagation, leading to improved minority carrier lifetime distribution in the wafers. Solar cells fabricated from the hybrid ingot exhibit efficiency close to Cz-Si wafers, with enhanced uniformity. While the cell efficiency of cast mono-Si remains slightly lower than CZ-Si, the method significantly reduces production costs while maintaining high yield, offering a viable pathway for scalable and cost-effective photovoltaic silicon production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 113599"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143696020","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":"Harnessing prefabrication techniques for accurate and efficient optoelectronic characterization of perovskite thin films","authors":"Mashhood Ghafarkani , Reza Taheri Ghahrizjani , Mohsen Ameri , Ezeddin Mohajerani , Nasser Safari","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113596","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113596","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents a comprehensive approach for evaluating the structural and optoelectronic properties of perovskite layers through a combination of electrical and optical characterization techniques. We analyze antisolvent-treated samples alongside untreated samples to demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods in assessing the impact of processing techniques on the material's properties. Photoluminescence analyses reveal temperature-dependent recombination rates, charge transport dynamics, and the influence of applied electrical fields. I-V and I-t measurements, along with Mott-Schottky and space charge limited current analyses, enable the determination of conductivity, semiconductor type, and trap density. Our findings exhibit clear optoelectronic enhancements following structural modifications. Additionally, they highlight the importance of utilizing these combined characterization methods to understand the interplay between structural enhancements and optoelectronic properties. This understanding paves the way for developing and optimizing efficient, stable perovskite-based photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"287 ","pages":"Article 113596"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143696021","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}
Yahui Wang , Xin Liu , Jian Tie , Jiexiong Ding , Peiyi Wang , Zipeng Jiang , Shengnian Tie , Changan Wang
{"title":"Photo- and magneto-responsive highly CNTs@Fe3O4 Glauber's salt based phase change composites for energy conversion and storage","authors":"Yahui Wang , Xin Liu , Jian Tie , Jiexiong Ding , Peiyi Wang , Zipeng Jiang , Shengnian Tie , Changan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113598","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113598","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a crucial component in phase change heat storage systems, phase change materials have demonstrated remarkable application potential across diverse fields, such as solar energy storage systems, magnetic induction energy conversion, and storage. This research reports a high-performance photomagnetically driven composite phase change materials. The photomagnetic response unit was fabricated via the hydrothermal coprecipitation method by in-situ loading of Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes (CNTs@Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>). Subsequently, it was integrated with the Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>·10H<sub>2</sub>O-Na<sub>2</sub>HPO<sub>4</sub>·12H<sub>2</sub>O eutectic salt to synthesize the composite PCM heat storage material.Experimental findings indicate that the composite incorporating 2.5 % CNTs@Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> exhibits nearly zero subcooling (ΔT = 0.1 °C), a thermal conductivity as high as 1.0230 W/(m·K), a significant latent heat of phase transformation (melting enthalpy of 253 J/g and solidification enthalpy of 218 J/g), and an enthalpy retention rate of 94.8 % after 1000 thermal cycles. The Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> endows the material with excellent magneto-thermal conversion performance. Specifically, at a 2.5 % doping content, the temperature increase within 240 s in an alternating magnetic field can reach 67.2 °C through the Néel/Brownian relaxation mechanism. Additionally, the CNTs carrier enhances the photothermal conversion efficiency to 94.5 %. This material combines high thermal conductivity, cycle stability, and dual-field (optical/magnetic) driven heat storage capabilities, thus demonstrating significant application potential in multifunctional thermal energy storage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 113598"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683306","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":"Optimized optical and electrical properties for silicon heterojunction solar cells with an indium tin oxide buffer layer","authors":"Daxue Du , Jianjun Liang , Wenzhong Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113595","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113595","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Indium tin oxide (ITO) layers prepared with high power have significantly contributed to enhancing the crystal quality of films and the performance of silicon heterojunction solar cells. However, this process typically results in sputtering damage, which degrades photovoltaic efficiency. We have designed a thin ITO buffer layer prepared at low power and O<sub>2</sub> concentration, followed by an outer ITO layer prepared at high power and high O<sub>2</sub> concentration. Thus, the bilayer ITO film demonstrates superior optical and electrical properties, attributed to the optimized complex refractive index and resistivity achieved through synergistic control of power and oxygen levels, compared to monolayer ITO films. The leakage risk from the addition of an interface was suppress without compromising the open-circuit voltage. Consequently, the average efficiency improves to 25.36 % with a gain of 0.11 %, benefiting from optimized short-circuit current density and fill factor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 113595"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683305","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":"Method of contact resistivity measurements at typical operating conditions for silicon heterojunction solar cells","authors":"Sénami Zogbo , Wilfried Favre , Marie-Estelle Gueunier-Farret , Olivier Bonino","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113584","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113584","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The electron-hole contact resistivity measurement can be used to quantify and understand the transport mechanisms at the interfaces of a solar cell. In the silicon heterojunction solar cell technology, it has been shown that the electron and hole contact resistivities exhibit temperature and illumination dependences. The dependence on illumination is related to the variation in the charge carriers concentration at the interfaces after photogeneration in crystalline silicon (c-Si) absorber. Typically, contact resistivity is determined by using the Transfer Length Method (TLM) in dark conditions, but it is not representative of typical solar cell operating conditions. In this study, we propose a method to accurately determine the temperature and injection level of excess charge carriers in TLM samples under illumination. We have established a procedure to correlate the passivation level of the TLM samples with the conductivity of the c-Si absorber. This method highlighted two conductivity regimes within the electron-hole contact as a function of the injection level, with the low injection levels leading to an increase in the contact resistivity. For example, a hole contact resistivity value of up to 800 mΩ cm<sup>2</sup> was obtained for the lowest injection levels at 300 K. The contact resistivity values determined at the Maximum Power Point (MPP) were used to model the series resistance, which was compared with the experimental values. The simulated results for the series resistance exhibited a clear trend with the temperature similar to the experimental results.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 113584"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683307","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}
Wangchao Wan , Minqiang Wang , Xinpeng Zhang , Chen Zhang , Zheyuan Da , Junnan Wang , Qing Yao
{"title":"Enhancing passivation and reducing absorption losses in TOPCon solar cells via Poly-Si finger structure","authors":"Wangchao Wan , Minqiang Wang , Xinpeng Zhang , Chen Zhang , Zheyuan Da , Junnan Wang , Qing Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113600","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113600","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) technology is one of the most influential and industrially feasible solar cell technologies today. Its excellent passivation contact performance has become a hot spot of current research. However, more serious parasitic absorption exists in polysilicon films, and balancing the thickness of polysilicon to solve the absorption coefficient of poly-Si with metallization contact is worthy of further research and discussion. To solve this problem, poly-Si was prepared graphically using laser, and the poly-Si finger TOPCon cell structure was formed by the heat generated by the laser. Various characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical voltammetry (ECV) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) confirmed the validity of the structure. The main results show that the poly-Si finger structure effectively reduces the parasitic absorption loss of polysilicon, improves the current density of the cell and maintains the passivation performance on par with the metal contact. As a result, the average conversion efficiency in the final production stage increased by 0.33 % compared to the baseline set. This study emphasizes the potential of this poly-Si finger structure to drive the fabrication of highly efficient solar cells by emphasizing significant improvements in parasitic absorption losses and overall cell performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 113600"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683304","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}
Hucheng Wang , Bohui Huang , Bintao Xue , Jianxiong Shao , Yonghui Liu , Liangliang Tang , Zhiyang Wang , Ximeng Chen , Zhanzu Feng , Chengzhi Han , Jiawen Qiu , Dai Tian , Limin Zhang , Aixiang Yang
{"title":"Performance degradation in GaSb thermophotovoltaic cells under proton and electron irradiations","authors":"Hucheng Wang , Bohui Huang , Bintao Xue , Jianxiong Shao , Yonghui Liu , Liangliang Tang , Zhiyang Wang , Ximeng Chen , Zhanzu Feng , Chengzhi Han , Jiawen Qiu , Dai Tian , Limin Zhang , Aixiang Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113597","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113597","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study reports on the proton and electron irradiation-induced performance degradation in GaSb thermophotovoltaic cells. GaSb cells and GaSb single crystals were irradiated using 100 MeV and 100 keV protons and 1 MeV electrons. Through measurement of cells and single crystals and simulation of irradiation experiments, it is found that 100 MeV protons penetrate the whole GaSb cell and produce uniformly distributed irradiation damage in the functional layer of the cell, and the maximum power (P<sub>MAX</sub>) of the cell decreases to 69 % when the proton fluence reaches 1 × 10<sup>12</sup> p/cm<sup>2</sup>. 100 keV protons are mainly injected in the PN junction region of the cell, and when the fluence is 3 × 10<sup>11</sup> p/cm<sup>2</sup>, the P<sub>MAX</sub> decreases to ∼10 %, and the cell basically fails completely. 1 MeV electrons penetrate the PN junction region to reach the base area, and more than 95 % of the electron energy is deposited inside the cell, and the P<sub>MAX</sub> decreases to 63 % when the electron fluence reaches 1 × 10<sup>16</sup> e/cm<sup>2</sup>. Proton and electron irradiations did not lead to significant structural damage in GaSb single crystals, but probably introduced Ga vacancies or vacancy cluster, which act as non-radiative recombination centres, reducing the carrier lifetime and concentration in the PN junction region of the GaSb cell, leading to degradation of its performance. This study informs the application of GaSb cells in radioisotope thermophotovoltaic systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":429,"journal":{"name":"Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells","volume":"286 ","pages":"Article 113597"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143683303","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}