Oxygen Management to Avoid Photo-Inactive Cd(S,Se) for Efficient Cd(Se,Te) Solar Cells

Deng Bing Li; Sabin Neupane; Sandip S. Bista; Chuanxiao Xiao; Abasi Abudulimu; Manoj K. Jamarkattel; Adam B. Phillips; Michael J. Heben; Jonathan D. Poplawsky; David A. Cullen; Chun Sheng Jiang; Randall J. Ellingson; Yanfa Yan

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.3c00141

Oxygen Management to Avoid Photo-Inactive Cd(S,Se) for Efficient Cd(Se,Te) Solar Cells

Deng Bing Li, Sabin Neupane, Sandip S. Bista, Chuanxiao Xiao, Abasi Abudulimu, Manoj K. Jamarkattel, Adam B. Phillips, Michael J. Heben, Jonathan D. Poplawsky, David A. Cullen, Chun Sheng Jiang, Randall J. Ellingson, Yanfa Yan

Materials MicroAnalysis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Our previous work has demonstrated that the formation of a penternary cadmium chalcogenide Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region can significantly reduce the front interface recombination in Cd(Se,Te)-based thin-film solar cells. In this work, we have shown that oxygen management during the device fabrication is crucial to form this region. While both the CdS and CdSe layer depositions and the postdeposition CdCl₂ treatment should be conducted in the presence of oxygen, the CdTe deposition should be conducted in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Improper oxygen management leads to low device performance due to the formation of a photoinactive Cd(S,Se) region and reduced absorber quality. Additionally, we investigated the carrier transport and collection properties in devices with photoinactive Cd(S,Se) and photoactive Cd(O,S,Se,Te) at the front interface to gain comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that resulted in improved efficiencies approaching 20%.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1529-1534
Number of pages	6
Journal	ACS Energy Letters
Volume	8
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c00141
State	Published - Mar 10 2023

Funding

This work is based on research sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement numbers FA9453-18-2-0037 and FA9453-21-C-0056; the National Science Foundation (contract Nos. 1665028 and 1711534); and the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Agreement DE-EE0008974 and the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, Managing and Operating Contractor for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number 37989. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes not withstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official guidance or position of the United States Government, the Department of Defense, or of the United States Air Force. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. The DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these locations. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Public Affairs release approval #AFRL-2023-0086. We thank Dr. David Strickler from Pilkington North America Inc. for supplying us with FTO-coated substrates. STEM-EDS was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The authors would like to thank James Burns for preparing the STEM samples. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This work is based on research sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory under agreement numbers FA9453-18-2-0037 and FA9453-21-C-0056; the National Science Foundation (contract Nos. 1665028 and 1711534); and the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Agreement DE-EE0008974 and the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, Managing and Operating Contractor for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number 37989. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes not withstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official guidance or position of the United States Government, the Department of Defense, or of the United States Air Force. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. The DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these locations. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Public Affairs release approval #AFRL-2023-0086. We thank Dr. David Strickler from Pilkington North America Inc. for supplying us with FTO-coated substrates. STEM-EDS was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The authors would like to thank James Burns for preparing the STEM samples. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
DOE Public Access Plan
United States Government
National Science Foundation	1711534, 1665028
U.S. Department of Defense	-2023-0086
U.S. Department of Energy	37989
Office of Science
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory	DE-AC05-00OR22725
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Air Force Research Laboratory	FA9453-18-2-0037, FA9453-21-C-0056
U.S. Air Force
Solar Energy Technologies Office	DE-EE0008974

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title = "Oxygen Management to Avoid Photo-Inactive Cd(S,Se) for Efficient Cd(Se,Te) Solar Cells",

abstract = "Our previous work has demonstrated that the formation of a penternary cadmium chalcogenide Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region can significantly reduce the front interface recombination in Cd(Se,Te)-based thin-film solar cells. In this work, we have shown that oxygen management during the device fabrication is crucial to form this region. While both the CdS and CdSe layer depositions and the postdeposition CdCl2 treatment should be conducted in the presence of oxygen, the CdTe deposition should be conducted in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Improper oxygen management leads to low device performance due to the formation of a photoinactive Cd(S,Se) region and reduced absorber quality. Additionally, we investigated the carrier transport and collection properties in devices with photoinactive Cd(S,Se) and photoactive Cd(O,S,Se,Te) at the front interface to gain comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that resulted in improved efficiencies approaching 20%.",

author = "Li, {Deng Bing} and Sabin Neupane and Bista, {Sandip S.} and Chuanxiao Xiao and Abasi Abudulimu and Jamarkattel, {Manoj K.} and Phillips, {Adam B.} and Heben, {Michael J.} and Poplawsky, {Jonathan D.} and Cullen, {David A.} and Jiang, {Chun Sheng} and Ellingson, {Randall J.} and Yanfa Yan",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 American Chemical Society.",

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month = mar,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1021/acsenergylett.3c00141",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

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journal = "ACS Energy Letters",

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T1 - Oxygen Management to Avoid Photo-Inactive Cd(S,Se) for Efficient Cd(Se,Te) Solar Cells

AU - Li, Deng Bing

AU - Neupane, Sabin

AU - Bista, Sandip S.

AU - Xiao, Chuanxiao

AU - Abudulimu, Abasi

AU - Jamarkattel, Manoj K.

AU - Phillips, Adam B.

AU - Heben, Michael J.

AU - Poplawsky, Jonathan D.

AU - Cullen, David A.

AU - Jiang, Chun Sheng

AU - Ellingson, Randall J.

AU - Yan, Yanfa

PY - 2023/3/10

Y1 - 2023/3/10

N2 - Our previous work has demonstrated that the formation of a penternary cadmium chalcogenide Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region can significantly reduce the front interface recombination in Cd(Se,Te)-based thin-film solar cells. In this work, we have shown that oxygen management during the device fabrication is crucial to form this region. While both the CdS and CdSe layer depositions and the postdeposition CdCl2 treatment should be conducted in the presence of oxygen, the CdTe deposition should be conducted in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Improper oxygen management leads to low device performance due to the formation of a photoinactive Cd(S,Se) region and reduced absorber quality. Additionally, we investigated the carrier transport and collection properties in devices with photoinactive Cd(S,Se) and photoactive Cd(O,S,Se,Te) at the front interface to gain comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that resulted in improved efficiencies approaching 20%.

AB - Our previous work has demonstrated that the formation of a penternary cadmium chalcogenide Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region can significantly reduce the front interface recombination in Cd(Se,Te)-based thin-film solar cells. In this work, we have shown that oxygen management during the device fabrication is crucial to form this region. While both the CdS and CdSe layer depositions and the postdeposition CdCl2 treatment should be conducted in the presence of oxygen, the CdTe deposition should be conducted in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Improper oxygen management leads to low device performance due to the formation of a photoinactive Cd(S,Se) region and reduced absorber quality. Additionally, we investigated the carrier transport and collection properties in devices with photoinactive Cd(S,Se) and photoactive Cd(O,S,Se,Te) at the front interface to gain comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that resulted in improved efficiencies approaching 20%.

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JO - ACS Energy Letters

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ER -

Oxygen Management to Avoid Photo-Inactive Cd(S,Se) for Efficient Cd(Se,Te) Solar Cells

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