Abstract
Here we review a systematic study of the structure-property correlations of a series of defects in CdTe solar cells. A variety of experimental methods, including aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and electron-beam-induced current have been combined with density-functional theory. The research traces the connections between the structures and electrical activities of individual defects including intra-grain partial dislocations, grain boundaries and the CdTe/CdS interface. The interpretations of the physical origin underlying the structure-property correlation provide insights that should further the development of future CdTe solar cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 64-76 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing |
| Volume | 65 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2017 |
Funding
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 non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide 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 research was sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) , Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE, DE-FOA-0000492 ), and the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and Materials Science and Engineering Division, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) . J.P. was supported in part by ORNL's laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) program. APT, SEM-EBIC, and EBSD measurements were conducted at ORNL's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility. STEM-EDX research was supported by the UK National Facility for Aberration-Corrected STEM. Computational facilities were provided by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | DE-FOA-0000492 |
| Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Laboratory Directed Research and Development | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 656378 |
Keywords
- CdTe solar cells
- Dislocation
- Grain boundary
- Interface
- Scanning transmission electron microscopy
