skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Elucidating potential-induced degradation in bifacial PERC silicon photovoltaic modules

Journal Article · · Progress in Photovoltaics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3028· OSTI ID:1475127
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Abstract This paper elucidates the behavior and underlying mechanism of potential‐induced degradation (PID) on the rear side of p‐type monocrystalline silicon bifacial passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) photovoltaic modules. At 50°C, 30% relative humidity, and −1000 V bias to the solar cells with aluminium foil on the rear glass surface, the rear‐side performance of bifacial PERC modules at standard testing conditions degraded dramatically after 40 hours with a 40.4%, 36.2%, and 7.2% loss in maximum power ( P mpp ), short‐circuit current ( I sc ), and open‐circuit voltage ( V oc ), respectively. The front‐side standard testing condition performance, on the other hand, showed less degradation; P mpp , I sc , and V oc dropped by 12.0%, 5.2%, and 5.3%, respectively. However, negligible degradation was observed when the solar cells were positively biased. Based on I‐V characteristics, electroluminescence, external quantum efficiency measurements, and the effective minority‐carrier lifetime simulation, the efficiency loss is shown to be caused by the surface polarization effect; positive charges are attracted to the passivation/antireflection stack on the rear surface and reduce its field effect passivation performance. Extended PID testing to 100 hours showed an increase in device performances (relative to 40 hours) due to the formation of an inversion layer along the rear surface. In addition, replacing ethylene‐vinyl acetate copolymer with polyolefin elastomer films significantly slows down the progression of PID, whereas a glass/transparent backsheet design effectively protects the rear side of bifacial PERC modules from PID. Furthermore, PID on the rear side of bifacial PERC modules is fully recoverable, and light greatly promotes recovery of the observed PID.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1475127
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1440372
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-72449
Journal Information:
Progress in Photovoltaics, Vol. 26, Issue 10; ISSN 1062-7995
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 49 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (36)

In-Situ Characterization of Potential-Induced Degradation in Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Modules Through Dark I–V Measurements journal January 2017
Potential-induced degradation in photovoltaic modules: a critical review journal January 2017
Explanation of potential-induced degradation of the shunting type by Na decoration of stacking faults in Si solar cells journal January 2014
Changes in the current density–voltage and external quantum efficiency characteristics of n-type single-crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules with a rear-side emitter undergoing potential-induced degradation journal July 2016
Investigation of Potential-Induced Degradation in n-PERT Bifacial Silicon Photovoltaic Modules with a Glass/Glass Structure journal January 2018
Toward a PID Test Standard: Understanding and Modeling of Laboratory Tests and Field Progression journal January 2016
Impact of illumination level and oxide parameters on Shockley–Read–Hall recombination at the Si‐SiO 2 interface journal May 1992
A comparative life-cycle assessment of photovoltaic electricity generation in Singapore by multicrystalline silicon technologies journal January 2018
Modeling of rates of moisture ingress into photovoltaic modules journal October 2006
Temperature-dependency analysis and correction methods of in situ power-loss estimation for crystalline silicon modules undergoing potential-induced degradation stress testing : Temperature-dependency analysis and correction methods journal January 2015
Field effect passivation of high efficiency silicon solar cells journal March 1993
Potential-Induced Degradation (PID): Incomplete Recovery of Shunt Resistance and Quantum Efficiency Losses journal November 2015
Testing and analysis for lifetime prediction of crystalline silicon PV modules undergoing degradation by system voltage stress conference June 2012
Potential-Induced Degradation (PID): Introduction of a Novel Test Approach and Explanation of Increased Depletion Region Recombination journal May 2014
Accelerated Testing and Modeling of Potential-Induced Degradation as a Function of Temperature and Relative Humidity journal November 2015
Potential-induced Degradation for Encapsulated n-type IBC Solar Cells with Front Floating Emitter journal August 2015
On the c-Si surface passivation mechanism by the negative-charge-dielectric Al2O3 journal December 2008
Surface effects on p-n junctions: Characteristics of surface space-charge regions under non-equilibrium conditions journal August 1966
Assessment of Bifacial Photovoltaic Module Power Rating Methodologies—Inside and Out journal March 2017
Impact of the injection-level-dependent lifetime on V oc , FF , ideality m , J 02 , and the dim light response in a commercial PERC cell : Impact of the injection-level-dependent lifetime journal June 2016
Analysis of the Annual Performance of Bifacial Modules and Optimization Methods journal January 2015
Sodium Accumulation at Potential-Induced Degradation Shunted Areas in Polycrystalline Silicon Modules journal November 2016
Charge retention of scaled SONOS nonvolatile memory devices at elevated temperatures journal June 2000
Stability of Al2O3 and Al2O3/a-SiNx:H stacks for surface passivation of crystalline silicon journal December 2009
Development of an IEC test for crystalline silicon modules to qualify their resistance to system voltage stress: IEC test for c-Si modules journal November 2013
PERC+: industrial PERC solar cells with rear Al grid enabling bifaciality and reduced Al paste consumption: PERC+: industrial PERC solar cells with rear Al grid
  • Dullweber, Thorsten; Kranz, Christopher; Peibst, Robby
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2712
journal October 2015
A low voltage SONOS nonvolatile semiconductor memory technology journal June 1997
Steady-state and transient photoconductivity in hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride films journal October 2003
Improved silicon surface passivation achieved by negatively charged silicon nitride films journal February 2009
A Fill Factor Loss Analysis Method for Silicon Wafer Solar Cells journal October 2013
Sodium Outdiffusion from Stacking Faults as Root Cause for the Recovery Process of Potential-induced Degradation (PID) journal January 2014
Potential-induced Degradation at Interdigitated Back Contact Solar Cells journal January 2014
Investigations on the Formation of Stacking Fault-like PID-shunts journal August 2016
Status and prospects of Al 2 O 3 -based surface passivation schemes for silicon solar cells journal July 2012
Testing and analysis for lifetime prediction of crystalline silicon PV modules undergoing degradation by system voltage stress conference June 2012
Commonly observed degradation in field-aged photovoltaic modules
  • Quintana, M. A.; King, D. L.; McMahon, T. J.
  • Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference 2002, Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190879
conference January 2002

Cited By (3)

Microstructural Analysis of Local Silicon Corrosion of Bifacial Solar Cells as Root Cause of Potential‐Induced Degradation at the Rear Side journal August 2019
Local Corrosion of Silicon as Root Cause for Potential‐Induced Degradation at the Rear Side of Bifacial PERC Solar Cells journal May 2019
Microstructural Analysis of Local Silicon Corrosion of Bifacial Solar Cells as Root Cause of Potential‐Induced Degradation at the Rear Side journal July 2019

Figures / Tables (14)

Table I(p. 11)table Table I
Table II(p. 11)table Table II
Table III(p. 11)table Table III
Figure 1(p. 12)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 12)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 13)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 13)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 14)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 14)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 15)figure Figure 7
Figure 8(p. 15)figure Figure 8
Figure 10(p. 16)figure Figure 10
Figure 9(p. 16)figure Figure 9
Figure 11(p. 17)figure Figure 11

Similar Records

Electrochemical degradation modes in bifacial silicon photovoltaic modules
Journal Article · Tue Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Progress in Photovoltaics · OSTI ID:1475127
+5 more
Susceptibility to polarization type potential induced degradation in commercial bifacial p-PERC PV modules
Journal Article · Tue Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Progress in Photovoltaics · OSTI ID:1475127
+4 more
Assessing UV-Induced Degradation in Bifacial Modules of Different Cell Technologies
Conference · Thu Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · OSTI ID:1475127
+3 more

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
photovoltaic module reliability
potential-induced degradation
surface passivation degradation
bifacial PERC silicon solar cell
light-induced recovery