Roll-To-Roll Friendly Solution-Processing of Ultrathin, Sintered CdTe Nanocrystal Photovoltaics

J. Matthew Kurley; Jia Ahn Pan; Yuanyuan Wang; Hao Zhang; Jake C. Russell; Gregory F. Pach; Bobby To; Joseph M. Luther; Dmitri V. Talapin

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c08325

Roll-To-Roll Friendly Solution-Processing of Ultrathin, Sintered CdTe Nanocrystal Photovoltaics

J. Matthew Kurley, Jia Ahn Pan, Yuanyuan Wang, Hao Zhang, Jake C. Russell, Gregory F. Pach, Bobby To, Joseph M. Luther, Dmitri V. Talapin

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

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Roll-to-roll (R2R) device fabrication using solution-processed materials is a cheap and versatile approach that has attracted widespread interest over the past 2 decades. Here, we systematically introduce and investigate R2R-friendly modifications in the fabrication of ultrathin, sintered CdTe nanocrystal (NC) solar cells. These include (1) scalable deposition techniques such as spray-coating and doctor-blading, (2) a bath-free, controllable sintering of CdTe NCs by quantitative addition of a sintering agent, and (3) radiative heating with an infrared lamp. The impact of each modification on the CdTe nanostructure and solar cell performance was first independently studied and compared to the standard, non-R2R-friendly procedure involving spin-coating the NCs, soaking in a CdCl2 bath, and annealing on a hot plate. The R2R-friendly techniques were then combined into a single, integrated process, yielding devices that reach 10.4% power conversion efficiency with a Voc, Jsc, and FF of 697 mV, 22.2 mA/cm2, and 67%, respectively, after current/light soaking. These advances reduce the barrier for large-scale manufacturing of solution-processed, ultralow-cost solar cells on flexible or curved substrates.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	44165-44173
Number of pages	9
Journal	ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume	13
Issue number	37
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c08325
State	Published - Sep 22 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The work on nanomaterial synthesis was supported by the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-2004880. Advanced structural characterization of nanomaterials was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the US Department of Energy (grant no. DE-SC0019375). The device fabrication and studies was supported by the Department of Defense (DOD) Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant number FA9550-18-1-0099. This research used resources of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308. NREL authors were supported by the NextGen PV program within Solar Energy Technologies Office of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of DOE. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation	DMR-2004880
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-SC0019375
Air Force Office of Scientific Research	FA9550-18-1-0099
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Argonne National Laboratory	DE-AC02-06CH11357
National Renewable Energy Laboratory	DE-AC36-08GO28308

Keywords

cadmium telluride
doctor-blading
ligand chemistry
nanocrystals
roll-to-roll
solar cell
spray-coating

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1021/acsami.1c08325

Cite this

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title = "Roll-To-Roll Friendly Solution-Processing of Ultrathin, Sintered CdTe Nanocrystal Photovoltaics",

abstract = "Roll-to-roll (R2R) device fabrication using solution-processed materials is a cheap and versatile approach that has attracted widespread interest over the past 2 decades. Here, we systematically introduce and investigate R2R-friendly modifications in the fabrication of ultrathin, sintered CdTe nanocrystal (NC) solar cells. These include (1) scalable deposition techniques such as spray-coating and doctor-blading, (2) a bath-free, controllable sintering of CdTe NCs by quantitative addition of a sintering agent, and (3) radiative heating with an infrared lamp. The impact of each modification on the CdTe nanostructure and solar cell performance was first independently studied and compared to the standard, non-R2R-friendly procedure involving spin-coating the NCs, soaking in a CdCl2 bath, and annealing on a hot plate. The R2R-friendly techniques were then combined into a single, integrated process, yielding devices that reach 10.4% power conversion efficiency with a Voc, Jsc, and FF of 697 mV, 22.2 mA/cm2, and 67%, respectively, after current/light soaking. These advances reduce the barrier for large-scale manufacturing of solution-processed, ultralow-cost solar cells on flexible or curved substrates.",

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AU - Zhang, Hao

AU - Russell, Jake C.

AU - Pach, Gregory F.

AU - To, Bobby

AU - Luther, Joseph M.

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Roll-To-Roll Friendly Solution-Processing of Ultrathin, Sintered CdTe Nanocrystal Photovoltaics

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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