Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Multimodal X-ray imaging of grain-level properties and performance in a polycrystalline solar cell

Abstract

The factors limiting the performance of alternative polycrystalline solar cells as compared with their single-crystal counterparts are not fully understood, but are thought to originate from structural and chemical heterogeneities at various length scales. Here, it is demonstrated that multimodal focused nanobeam X-ray microscopy can be used to reveal multiple aspects of the problem in a single measurement by mapping chemical makeup, lattice structure and charge collection efficiency simultaneously in a working solar cell. This approach was applied to micrometre-sized individual grains in a Cu(In,Ga)Se2polycrystalline film packaged in a working device. It was found that, near grain boundaries, collection efficiency is increased, and that in these regions the lattice parameter of the material is expanded. These observations are discussed in terms of possible physical models and future experiments.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1617932
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1514703; OSTI ID: 1545346; OSTI ID: 1574176
Report Number(s):
BNL-211688-2019-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1600-5775; JSYRES; PII: S1600577519003606
Grant/Contract Number:  
DEEE0005948; DEEE0008163; AC02-06CH11357; SC0012704; EE0008163
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online) Journal Volume: 26 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1600-5775
Publisher:
International Union of Crystallography (IUCr)
Country of Publication:
Denmark
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; solar cell materials; scanning nanodiffraction; X-ray-beam-induced current; multimodal characterization

Citation Formats

Ulvestad, A., Hruszkewycz, S. O., Holt, M. V., Hill, M. O., Calvo-Almazán, I., Maddali, S., Huang, X., Yan, H., Nazaretski, E., Chu, Y. S., Lauhon, L. J., Rodkey, N., Bertoni, M. I., and Stuckelberger, M. E. Multimodal X-ray imaging of grain-level properties and performance in a polycrystalline solar cell. Denmark: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1107/S1600577519003606.
Copy to clipboard
Ulvestad, A., Hruszkewycz, S. O., Holt, M. V., Hill, M. O., Calvo-Almazán, I., Maddali, S., Huang, X., Yan, H., Nazaretski, E., Chu, Y. S., Lauhon, L. J., Rodkey, N., Bertoni, M. I., & Stuckelberger, M. E. Multimodal X-ray imaging of grain-level properties and performance in a polycrystalline solar cell. Denmark. https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577519003606
Copy to clipboard
Ulvestad, A., Hruszkewycz, S. O., Holt, M. V., Hill, M. O., Calvo-Almazán, I., Maddali, S., Huang, X., Yan, H., Nazaretski, E., Chu, Y. S., Lauhon, L. J., Rodkey, N., Bertoni, M. I., and Stuckelberger, M. E. Tue . "Multimodal X-ray imaging of grain-level properties and performance in a polycrystalline solar cell". Denmark. https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577519003606.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1617932,
title = {Multimodal X-ray imaging of grain-level properties and performance in a polycrystalline solar cell},
author = {Ulvestad, A. and Hruszkewycz, S. O. and Holt, M. V. and Hill, M. O. and Calvo-Almazán, I. and Maddali, S. and Huang, X. and Yan, H. and Nazaretski, E. and Chu, Y. S. and Lauhon, L. J. and Rodkey, N. and Bertoni, M. I. and Stuckelberger, M. E.},
abstractNote = {The factors limiting the performance of alternative polycrystalline solar cells as compared with their single-crystal counterparts are not fully understood, but are thought to originate from structural and chemical heterogeneities at various length scales. Here, it is demonstrated that multimodal focused nanobeam X-ray microscopy can be used to reveal multiple aspects of the problem in a single measurement by mapping chemical makeup, lattice structure and charge collection efficiency simultaneously in a working solar cell. This approach was applied to micrometre-sized individual grains in a Cu(In,Ga)Se2polycrystalline film packaged in a working device. It was found that, near grain boundaries, collection efficiency is increased, and that in these regions the lattice parameter of the material is expanded. These observations are discussed in terms of possible physical models and future experiments.},
doi = {10.1107/S1600577519003606},
journal = {Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (Online)},
number = 4,
volume = 26,
place = {Denmark},
year = {Tue May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577519003606
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: A schematic of the experimental setup. Panel (a) shows the integration of an optical chopper and lock-in amplifier into the X-ray beamline that enables position-resolved XBIC and XBIV measurements. Panel (b) shows more details of the sample–beam interaction area: a PV device containing an active layer of polycrystallinemore » CIGS between top and bottom electrodes was illuminated with a nanofocused X-ray beam. The orientation of the beam was such that a 112 Bragg peak could be observed from grains that were favorably oriented. Raster scans of the sample were performed by displacing the sample in the plane of the film in ~100 nm steps. During the raster scan simultaneous measurements were performed of the local Bragg diffraction, the emitted X-ray fluorescence spectrum, and either the XBIC or XBIV. To measure 3D Bragg peak information, raster scans were repeated at different incident angles by varying the sample angle (along the θ rotation axis in the figure).« less
All figures and tables (4 total)
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

High-resolution three-dimensional structural microscopy by single-angle Bragg ptychography
journal, November 2016

  • Hruszkewycz, S. O.; Allain, M.; Holt, M. V.
  • Nature Materials, Vol. 16, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1038/nmat4798

Impact of metal silicide precipitate dissolution during rapid thermal processing of multicrystalline silicon solar cells
journal, September 2005

  • Buonassisi, T.; Istratov, A. A.; Peters, S.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2048819

Solar cell efficiency tables (version 52)
journal, June 2018

  • Green, Martin A.; Hishikawa, Yoshihiro; Dunlop, Ewan D.
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 26, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1002/pip.3040

High resolution tip-tilt positioning system for a next generation MLL-based x-ray microscope
journal, November 2017

  • Xu, Weihe; Schlossberger, Noah; Xu, Wei
  • Measurement Science and Technology, Vol. 28, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1088/1361-6501/aa8916

Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Trajectories and challenges
journal, April 2017

Nanoscale Hard X-Ray Microscopy Methods for Materials Studies
journal, July 2013

How Does CIGS Performance Depend on Temperature at the Microscale?
journal, January 2018

Design and performance of an X-ray scanning microscope at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline of NSLS-II
journal, October 2017

What limits the efficiency of chalcopyrite solar cells?
journal, June 2011

Multimodal hard x-ray imaging with resolution approaching 10 nm for studies in material science
journal, March 2018

Energy payback time and carbon footprint of commercial photovoltaic systems
journal, December 2013

Grain engineering: How nanoscale inhomogeneities can control charge collection in solar cells
journal, February 2017

Engineering solar cells based on correlative X-ray microscopy
journal, May 2017

  • Stuckelberger, Michael; West, Bradley; Nietzold, Tara
  • Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 32, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2017.108
    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Figures / Tables found in this record:

    Figure 1 (p. 4)figure
    Figure 2 (p. 5)figure
    Figure 3 (p. 6)figure
    Figure 4 (p. 6)figure
      [ × clear filter / sort ]
      Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: