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Title: Revealing the beneficial role of K in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and at the buffer interface for highly efficient CuInSe2 solar cells

Abstract

K incorporation within grain boundaries, grain interiors, and interfaces has been studied within CuInSe2 solar cells to better understand the beneficial or detrimental role of K distribution among these regions in chalcopyrite–based solar cells. Solar cells have been fabricated with intentional K introduction into specific regions of the device including the CuInSe2/CdS interface (CuInSe2/KInSe2/CdS) and the grain interiors (Cu0.93K0.07InSe2/CdS). A control CuInSe2/CdS device was also studied to separate effects of K originating from the soda–lime glass substrate from those of intentionally introduced K. The experiment was designed to understand K effects in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells while mitigating complications from multiple elements in the 3+ site. The distribution of all elements within these samples has been directly observed with sub–nm resolution via atom probe tomography. In addition, electron beam–induced current measurements have been performed to correlate the atom probe tomography compositional profiles to the nanoscale carrier collection properties. The experiments show that a large decrease in the Cu/In ratio at the CdS interface can be achieved by forming KInSe2 at the absorber surface, which drastically improves the device efficiency. The results presented here show a direct link between K concentration, Cu depletion, and In accumulation, such that the Cu/In ratio significantlymore » reduces with K incorporation. In conclusion, the findings help clarify the mechanism behind K–induced efficiency enhancement.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1471293
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1441017; OSTI ID: 1454388
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-71548
Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308; AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Progress in Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 26; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; chalcopyrite; CuInSe2; Cu(In,Ga)Se2; potassium; atom probe tomography; electron beam induced current; electron beam-induced current

Citation Formats

Muzzillo, Christopher P., Poplawsky, Jonathan D., Tong, Ho Ming, Guo, Wei, and Anderson, Tim. Revealing the beneficial role of K in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and at the buffer interface for highly efficient CuInSe2 solar cells. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1002/pip.3022.
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Muzzillo, Christopher P., Poplawsky, Jonathan D., Tong, Ho Ming, Guo, Wei, & Anderson, Tim. Revealing the beneficial role of K in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and at the buffer interface for highly efficient CuInSe2 solar cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3022
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Muzzillo, Christopher P., Poplawsky, Jonathan D., Tong, Ho Ming, Guo, Wei, and Anderson, Tim. Wed . "Revealing the beneficial role of K in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and at the buffer interface for highly efficient CuInSe2 solar cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3022. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1471293.
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@article{osti_1471293,
title = {Revealing the beneficial role of K in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and at the buffer interface for highly efficient CuInSe2 solar cells},
author = {Muzzillo, Christopher P. and Poplawsky, Jonathan D. and Tong, Ho Ming and Guo, Wei and Anderson, Tim},
abstractNote = {K incorporation within grain boundaries, grain interiors, and interfaces has been studied within CuInSe2 solar cells to better understand the beneficial or detrimental role of K distribution among these regions in chalcopyrite–based solar cells. Solar cells have been fabricated with intentional K introduction into specific regions of the device including the CuInSe2/CdS interface (CuInSe2/KInSe2/CdS) and the grain interiors (Cu0.93K0.07InSe2/CdS). A control CuInSe2/CdS device was also studied to separate effects of K originating from the soda–lime glass substrate from those of intentionally introduced K. The experiment was designed to understand K effects in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells while mitigating complications from multiple elements in the 3+ site. The distribution of all elements within these samples has been directly observed with sub–nm resolution via atom probe tomography. In addition, electron beam–induced current measurements have been performed to correlate the atom probe tomography compositional profiles to the nanoscale carrier collection properties. The experiments show that a large decrease in the Cu/In ratio at the CdS interface can be achieved by forming KInSe2 at the absorber surface, which drastically improves the device efficiency. The results presented here show a direct link between K concentration, Cu depletion, and In accumulation, such that the Cu/In ratio significantly reduces with K incorporation. In conclusion, the findings help clarify the mechanism behind K–induced efficiency enhancement.},
doi = {10.1002/pip.3022},
journal = {Progress in Photovoltaics},
number = 10,
volume = 26,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3022
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Cited by: 18 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Internal measurements without AR for power conversion efficiency, open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current density (JSC), fill factor (FF), light series resistance (Rser), and light shunt conductance (Gsh). Official measurements after AR for efficiency, VOC, JSC, and FF are also included. Descriptions of the growth processes are in themore » experimental section.« less
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Efficiency Improvement of Near‐Stoichiometric CuInSe 2 Solar Cells for Application in Tandem Devices
    journal, July 2019

    • Feurer, Thomas; Carron, Romain; Torres Sevilla, Galo
    • Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 35
    • DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201901428

    No Evidence for Passivation Effects of Na and K at Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 Thin Films for Solar Cells
    journal, May 2019

    • Abou-Ras, Daniel; Nikolaeva, Aleksandra; Caicedo Dávila, Sebastián
    • Solar RRL, Vol. 3, Issue 8
    • DOI: 10.1002/solr.201900095
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