Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells

Brandt, Riley E.; Mangan, Niall M.; Li, Jian V.; Lee, Yun Seog; Buonassisi, Tonio

doi:10.1063/1.4982752

Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells

Journal Article · Tue May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982752· OSTI ID:1573369

Brandt, Riley E. ^[1]; ^[2]; Li, Jian V. ^[3]; Lee, Yun Seog ^[4]; Buonassisi, Tonio ^[5]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); National Cheng Kung University
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Applied Mathematics
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Texas State Univ., San Marcos, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

The development of new thin-film photovoltaic (PV) absorbers is often hindered by the search for an optimal heterojunction contact; an unoptimized contact may be mistaken for poor quality of the underlying absorber, making it difficult to assess the reasons for poor performance. Therefore, quantifying the loss in device efficiency and open-circuit voltage (V_OC) as a result of the interface is a critical step in evaluating a new material. In this work, we fabricate thin-film PV devices using cuprous oxide (Cu₂O), with several different n-type heterojunction contacts. Their current-voltage characteristics are measured over a range of temperatures and illumination intensties (JVTi). We quantify the loss in V_OC due to the interface and determine the effective energy gap at the interface. The effective interface gap measured by JVTi matches the gap measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, albeit with higher energy resolution and an order of magnitude faster. We discuss potential artifacts in JVTi measurements and areas where analytical models are insufficient. Applying JVTi to complete devices, rather than incomplete material stacks, suggests that it can be a quick, accurate method to assess the loss due to unoptimized interface band offsets in thin-film PV devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Texas State Univ., San Marcos, TX (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Next Generation of Materials by Design: Incorporating Metastability (CNGMD)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0007541

OSTI ID:: 1573369

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1361861
OSTI ID: 1364054
OSTI ID: 1580435

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 121; ISSN 0021-8979

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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