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

Abstract

Development of new thin-film 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 (VOC) as a result of the interface is a critical step in evaluating a new material. In the present 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 intensities (JVTi). We quantify the loss in VOC 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 it can be a quick, accurate method to assess the loss due to unoptimized interface band offsets in thin-film PV devices.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Applied Mathematics
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Texas State Univ., San Marcos, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
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 Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1573369
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1361861; OSTI ID: 1580435
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0007541; AC36-08GO28308; DMR-0819762; ECS-0335765
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 121; Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; 14 SOLAR ENERGY

Citation Formats

Brandt, Riley E., Mangan, Niall M., Li, Jian V., Lee, Yun Seog, and Buonassisi, Tonio. Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4982752.
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Brandt, Riley E., Mangan, Niall M., Li, Jian V., Lee, Yun Seog, & Buonassisi, Tonio. Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982752
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Brandt, Riley E., Mangan, Niall M., Li, Jian V., Lee, Yun Seog, and Buonassisi, Tonio. Tue . "Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982752. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1573369.
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@article{osti_1573369,
title = {Determining interface properties limiting open-circuit voltage in heterojunction solar cells},
author = {Brandt, Riley E. and Mangan, Niall M. and Li, Jian V. and Lee, Yun Seog and Buonassisi, Tonio},
abstractNote = {Development of new thin-film 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 (VOC) as a result of the interface is a critical step in evaluating a new material. In the present 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 intensities (JVTi). We quantify the loss in VOC 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 it can be a quick, accurate method to assess the loss due to unoptimized interface band offsets in thin-film PV devices.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4982752},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 18,
volume = 121,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue May 09 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982752
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