Roles of bandgrading, lifetime, band alignment, and carrier concentration in high-efficiency CdSeTe solar cells

Zheng, Xin; Colegrove, Eric; Duenow, Joel; Moseley, John; Metzger, Wyatt

doi:10.1063/5.0013726

Roles of bandgrading, lifetime, band alignment, and carrier concentration in high-efficiency CdSeTe solar cells

Journal Article · Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0013726· OSTI ID:1660256

Zheng, Xin ^[1]; ^[2]; Duenow, Joel ^[2]; Moseley, John ^[2]; Metzger, Wyatt ^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

CdSeTe alloying has significantly increased the efficiency of CdTe-based solar technology. Here, computational modeling compares how different CdSeTe bandgrading, carrier lifetimes, band alignment, and carrier concentrations contribute to transport, recombination, and performance. We find that the gain in photocurrent caused by bandgap narrowing alone is insufficient to describe experimental efficiency gains. Performance can be increased by adjusting CdSeTe compositions and bandgrading depths. However, these performance gains are small relative to the contributions of enhanced lifetime by Se alloying, which can explain record cell efficiency gains with minimal open-circuit voltage loss despite significant bandgap narrowing. Similarly, CdSeTe band alignment shifts can significantly increase performance if front interface recombination is prevalent. For a wide range of CdSeTe grading profiles, the hole density is a critical component to achieve efficiencies exceeding 25%.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1660256

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1644374

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5K00-76812; MainId:9473; UUID:6088d2a7-b581-424f-9d59-f33a7f8b0d7b; MainAdminID:17399

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 128; ISSN 0021-8979

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

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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