Photovoltaic Device with over 5% Efficiency Based on an n-Type Ag2ZnSnSe4 Absorber

Gershon, Talia; Sardashti, Kasra; Gunawan, Oki; Mankad, Ravin; Singh, Saurabh; Lee, Yun Seog; Ott, John A.; Kummel, Andrew; Haight, Richard

doi:10.1002/aenm.201601182

Photovoltaic Device with over 5% Efficiency Based on an n-Type Ag₂ZnSnSe₄ Absorber

Journal Article · Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201601182· OSTI ID:1533062

Gershon, Talia ^[1]; Sardashti, Kasra ^[2]; Gunawan, Oki ^[3]; Mankad, Ravin ^[3]; Singh, Saurabh ^[3]; Lee, Yun Seog ^[3]; Ott, John A. ^[3]; Kummel, Andrew ^[2]; Haight, Richard ^[3]

IBM T J Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States); DOE/OSTI
University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
IBM T J Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)

The kesterite material Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) is an attractive earth–abundant semiconductor for photovoltaics. However, the power conversion efficiency is limited by a large density of I–II antisite defects, which cause severe band tailing and open–circuit voltage loss. Ag₂ZnSnSe₄ (AZTSe) is a promising alternative to CZTSSe with a substantially lower I–II antisite defect density and smaller band tailing. AZTSe is weakly n–type, and this study reports for the first time on how the carrier density is impacted by stoichiometry. Here, this study presents the first–ever photovoltaic device based on AZTSe, which exhibits an efficiency of 5.2%, which is the highest value reported for an n–type thin–film absorber. Due to the weakly n–type nature of the absorber, a new architecture is employed (SnO:F/AZTSe/MoO₃/ITO) to replace conventional contacts and buffer materials. Using this platform, it is shown that the band tailing parameter in AZTSe more closely resembles that of CIGSe than CZTSSe, underscoring the strong promise of this absorber. In demonstrating the ability to collect photogenerated carriers from AZTSe, this study paves the way for novel thin–film heterojunction architectures where light absorption in the n–type device layer can supplement absorption in the p–type layer as opposed to producing a net optical loss.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006334

OSTI ID:: 1533062

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1401226

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 6; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AZTSe
Band tailing
CZTSSe
Chemistry
Energy & Fuels
Kesterite
Materials Science
N‐type
Physics