Grain engineering: How nanoscale inhomogeneities can control charge collection in solar cells

West, Bradley M.; Stuckelberger, Michael; Guthrey, Harvey; Chen, Lei; Lai, Barry; Maser, Jörg; Rose, Volker; Shafarman, William; Al-Jassim, Mowafak; Bertoni, Mariana I.

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.011

Title: Grain engineering: How nanoscale inhomogeneities can control charge collection in solar cells

Journal Article · Fri Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Nano Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.011· OSTI ID:1416731

West, Bradley M. ^[1]; Stuckelberger, Michael ^[1]; Guthrey, Harvey ^[2]; Chen, Lei ^[3]; Lai, Barry ^[4]; Maser, Jörg ^[4]; Rose, Volker ^[5]; Shafarman, William ^[3]; Al-Jassim, Mowafak ^[2]; Bertoni, Mariana I. ^[6]

Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States). Institute of Energy Conversion
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS) and Center for Nanoscale Materials
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy

We present that statistical and correlative analysis are increasingly important in the design and study of new materials, from semiconductors to metals. Non-destructive measurement techniques, with high spatial resolution, capable of correlating composition and/or structure with device properties, are few and far between. For the case of polycrystalline and inhomogeneous materials, the added challenge is that nanoscale resolution is in general not compatible with the large sampling areas necessary to have a statistical representation of the specimen under study. For the study of grain cores and grain boundaries in polycrystalline solar absorbers this is of particular importance since their dissimilar behavior and variability throughout the samples makes it difficult to draw conclusions and ultimately optimize the material. In this study, we present a nanoscale in-operando approach based on the multimodal utilization of synchrotron nano x-ray fluorescence and x-ray beam induced current collected for grain core and grain boundary areas and correlated pixel-by-pixel in fully operational Cu(In_(1-x)Ga_x)Se₂ solar cells. We observe that low gallium cells have grain boundaries that over perform compared to the grain cores and high gallium cells have boundaries that under perform. In conclusion, these results demonstrate how nanoscale correlative X-ray microscopy can guide research pathways towards grain engineering low cost, high efficiency solar cells.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; EE0005848; AC36-08GO28308; AC36-08-GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1416731

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1398671

Journal Information:: Nano Energy, Vol. 32, Issue C; ISSN 2211-2855

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 38 works

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The Role of Grain Boundaries in Perovskite Solar Cells Castro‐Méndez, Andrés‐Felipe; Hidalgo, Juanita; Correa‐Baena, Juan‐Pablo Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201901489	journal	August 2019
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Defect activation and annihilation in CIGS solar cells: an operando X-ray microscopy study Stuckelberger, Michael E.; Nietzold, Tara; West, Bradley Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg https://doi.org/10.3204/pubdb-2019-03853	text	January 2020
High-Quality Indium Phosphide Films and Nano-Network Grown Using Low-Cost Metal-Catalyzed Vapor-Liquid-Solid Method for Photovoltaic Applications Hashemi Amiri, Seyed Ebrahim; Gan, Lin; Fan, Fan Advanced Optical Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201800136	journal	July 2018
Direct Nanoscale Characterization of Deep Levels in AgCuInGaSe ₂ Using Electron Energy‐Loss Spectroscopy in the Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope Deitz, Julia I.; Paul, Pran K.; Farshchi, Rouin Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 35 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201901612	journal	August 2019
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