Radiative Efficiency and Charge-Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Kuciauskas, Darius; Moseley, John; Scajev, Patrik; Albin, David S.

doi:10.1002/pssr.201900606

Radiative Efficiency and Charge-Carrier Lifetimes and Diffusion Length in Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures

Journal Article · Wed Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Physica Status Solidi rrl

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.201900606· OSTI ID:1579640

^[1]; Moseley, John ^[1]; Scajev, Patrik ^[2]; Albin, David S. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Vilnius Univ., Vilnius (Lithuania). Inst. of Photonics and Nanotechnology

CdTe-based photovoltaics is a rapidly developing energy technology with one of the lowest levelized costs of electricity. But nonradiative Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination limits the efficiency of CdTe solar cells. Partial mitigation of bulk and grain-boundary SRH recombination was achieved by alloying CdTe with Se, and CdSe_xTe_1-x absorbers are used in high-efficiency solar cells. Recently, interface recombination was significantly reduced with alumina passivation, but other properties of Al₂O₃/CdSe_xTe_1-x/Al₂O₃ heterostructures have not yet been investigated. Herein, further progress in understanding and developing polycrystalline heterostructures with x = 0.2 is reported. It is shown that external photoluminescence quantum yield is increased to 0.2%, quasi-Fermi-level splitting to 950 mV, minority carrier lifetimes to 750 ns, and mobility to 100 cm² Vs^-1. Such polycrystalline CdSe_xTe_1-x electronic characteristics match or exceed CdTe single-crystal properties. The resulting charge-carrier diffusion length of ≈14 $$\mu$$m is several times greater than the absorber thickness in test structures and in typical CdTe solar cells. Herein, with passivation and absorbers, polycrystalline CdSeTe solar cell open-circuit voltage is increased from the current 76% of the Shockley-Queisser limit to 82%, or close to 1 V is reported.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; EE0008552

OSTI ID:: 1579640

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1772460
OSTI ID: 1577408
OSTI ID: 22901951

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5900-75637

Journal Information:: Physica Status Solidi rrl, Journal Name: Physica Status Solidi rrl Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 14; ISSN 1862-6254

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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