U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Damp Heat Induced Degradation of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Cu-Plated Contacts
Abstract
Damp heat exposure is one of the most stringent environments for testing the durability of solar cells in packaged modules. Damp heat stresses and induces a variety of degradation modes in solar cells and modules: for example, moisture-induced corrosion of electrodes and interconnections, deterioration of polymeric materials, and/or thermally activated diffusion processes. To screen for these and other potential degradation modes, we subject one-cell modules containing silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells with Cu-plated contacts to extended damp heat tests at 85 °C/85% relative humidity. SHJ cells were laminated with two common encapsulants: ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polyolefin elastomer (POE), and two constructions: glass-backsheet and glass-glass. We observe degradation in all components of solar cell maximum power (PMP): current, voltage, and fill factor, and find evidence of increased carrier recombination and nonideal diode behavior with increasing stress. For glass-backsheet constructions, EVA samples generally degrade more than POE by a factor of approximately 1.5x PMP, and the different encapsulants produce different degradation patterns. Similar trends are observed in glass-glass modules, but to a lesser degree. In a different experiment, we observe a decrease in effective minority carrier lifetime of nonmetallized SHJ precursors measured after damp heat. This implies that some degradationmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1]
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Sunpreme, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1638270
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY
Citation Formats
Karas, Joseph, Sinha, Archana, Buddha, Viswa Sai Pavan, Li, Fang, Moghadam, Farhad, TamizhMani, Govindasamy, Bowden, Stuart, and Augusto, Andre. Damp Heat Induced Degradation of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Cu-Plated Contacts. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1109/jphotov.2019.2941693.
Karas, Joseph, Sinha, Archana, Buddha, Viswa Sai Pavan, Li, Fang, Moghadam, Farhad, TamizhMani, Govindasamy, Bowden, Stuart, & Augusto, Andre. Damp Heat Induced Degradation of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Cu-Plated Contacts. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2019.2941693
Karas, Joseph, Sinha, Archana, Buddha, Viswa Sai Pavan, Li, Fang, Moghadam, Farhad, TamizhMani, Govindasamy, Bowden, Stuart, and Augusto, Andre. 2020.
"Damp Heat Induced Degradation of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Cu-Plated Contacts". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2019.2941693. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1638270.
@article{osti_1638270,
title = {Damp Heat Induced Degradation of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Cu-Plated Contacts},
author = {Karas, Joseph and Sinha, Archana and Buddha, Viswa Sai Pavan and Li, Fang and Moghadam, Farhad and TamizhMani, Govindasamy and Bowden, Stuart and Augusto, Andre},
abstractNote = {Damp heat exposure is one of the most stringent environments for testing the durability of solar cells in packaged modules. Damp heat stresses and induces a variety of degradation modes in solar cells and modules: for example, moisture-induced corrosion of electrodes and interconnections, deterioration of polymeric materials, and/or thermally activated diffusion processes. To screen for these and other potential degradation modes, we subject one-cell modules containing silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells with Cu-plated contacts to extended damp heat tests at 85 °C/85% relative humidity. SHJ cells were laminated with two common encapsulants: ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polyolefin elastomer (POE), and two constructions: glass-backsheet and glass-glass. We observe degradation in all components of solar cell maximum power (PMP): current, voltage, and fill factor, and find evidence of increased carrier recombination and nonideal diode behavior with increasing stress. For glass-backsheet constructions, EVA samples generally degrade more than POE by a factor of approximately 1.5x PMP, and the different encapsulants produce different degradation patterns. Similar trends are observed in glass-glass modules, but to a lesser degree. In a different experiment, we observe a decrease in effective minority carrier lifetime of nonmetallized SHJ precursors measured after damp heat. This implies that some degradation unrelated to the contacts is to be expected and confirms the observation of increasing recombination.},
doi = {10.1109/jphotov.2019.2941693},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1638270},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},
issn = {2156-3381},
number = 1,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {10}
}
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