Mapping photovoltaic performance with nanoscale resolution

Kutes, Yasemin; Aguirre, Brandon A.; Bosse, James L.; Cruz-Campa, Jose L.; Zubia, David; Huey, Bryan D.

doi:10.1002/pip.2698

Mapping photovoltaic performance with nanoscale resolution

Journal Article · Fri Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Progress in Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2698· OSTI ID:1237358

^[1]; Aguirre, Brandon A. ^[2]; Bosse, James L. ^[1]; Cruz-Campa, Jose L. ^[3]; Zubia, David ^[4]; Huey, Bryan D. ^[1]

Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States)
Univ. of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), MEMS Technologies, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), MEMS Technologies, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
University of Texas at El Paso, Electrical and Computer Engineering, El Paso TX USA

Photo-conductive AFM spectroscopy (‘pcAFMs’) is proposed as a high-resolution approach for investigating nanostructured photovoltaics, uniquely providing nanoscale maps of photovoltaic (PV) performance parameters such as the short circuit current, open circuit voltage, maximum power, or fill factor. The method is demonstrated with a stack of 21 images acquired during in situ illumination of micropatterned polycrystalline CdTe/CdS, providing more than 42,000 I/V curves spatially separated by ~5 nm. For these CdTe/CdS microcells, the calculated photoconduction ranges from 0 to 700 picoSiemens (pS) upon illumination with ~1.6 suns, depending on location and biasing conditions. Mean short circuit currents of 2 pA, maximum powers of 0.5 pW, and fill factors of 30% are determined. The mean voltage at which the detected photocurrent is zero is determined to be 0.7 V. Significantly, enhancements and reductions in these more commonly macroscopic PV performance metrics are observed to correlate with certain grains and grain boundaries, and are confirmed to be independent of topography. Furthermore, these results demonstrate the benefits of nanoscale resolved PV functional measurements, reiterate the importance of microstructural control down to the nanoscale for 'PV devices, and provide a widely applicable new approach for directly investigating PV materials.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1237358

Report Number(s):: SAND--2015-20802J; 558235

Journal Information:: Progress in Photovoltaics, Journal Name: Progress in Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 93; ISSN 1062-7995

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Perovskite Solar Cell Stability in Humid Air: Partially Reversible Phase Transitions in the PbI ₂ -CH ₃ NH ₃ I-H ₂ O System Song, Zhaoning; Abate, Antonio; Watthage, Suneth C. Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201600846	journal	July 2016
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Scanning Probe Microscopy in Materials Science Meyer, Ernst; Jarvis, Suzanne P.; Spencer, Nicholas D. MRS Bulletin, Vol. 29, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2004.137	journal	July 2004

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