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Title: Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices

Abstract

CdTe-based solar cell efficiency has rapidly improved over the last few years. Some of the reasons have been a change to the absorber composition including the incorporation of selenium, and better front contact and emitter materials in CdTe photovoltaic devices. In addition to the increase in short-circuit current by reducing the bandgap, Se plays other important roles in passivation of defects thus improving the conversion efficiency of CdSeTe/CdTe graded absorber photovoltaic devices. Here, we combine structural and optical characterizations with first principles calculations to investigate the role of Se and Cl segregation in CdSeTe devices. We find that in the presence of Se and Cl, the minority carrier lifetime improves due to a reduction of midgap defect states. We also correlate this effect with defect passivation in CdSeTe devices and suggest innovative ways to further improve CdTe-based photovoltaic efficiency.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]
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  1. Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
University of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States); Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Contributing Org.:
Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
OSTI Identifier:
1576757
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1570059; OSTI ID: 1670784
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0007545; EE0008557; EE00007545; AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231; EE0008177
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; STEM; EELS; CdTe

Citation Formats

Guo, Jinglong, Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, Arun, Sen, Fatih G., Schwenker, Eric, Barnard, E. S., Munshi, Amit, Sampath, W., Chan, Maria K. Y., and Klie, Robert F. Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5123169.
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Guo, Jinglong, Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, Arun, Sen, Fatih G., Schwenker, Eric, Barnard, E. S., Munshi, Amit, Sampath, W., Chan, Maria K. Y., & Klie, Robert F. Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices. United States. doi:10.1063/1.5123169.
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Guo, Jinglong, Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, Arun, Sen, Fatih G., Schwenker, Eric, Barnard, E. S., Munshi, Amit, Sampath, W., Chan, Maria K. Y., and Klie, Robert F. Mon . "Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices". United States. doi:10.1063/1.5123169. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1576757.
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@article{osti_1576757,
title = {Effect of selenium and chlorine co-passivation in polycrystalline CdSeTe devices},
author = {Guo, Jinglong and Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, Arun and Sen, Fatih G. and Schwenker, Eric and Barnard, E. S. and Munshi, Amit and Sampath, W. and Chan, Maria K. Y. and Klie, Robert F.},
abstractNote = {CdTe-based solar cell efficiency has rapidly improved over the last few years. Some of the reasons have been a change to the absorber composition including the incorporation of selenium, and better front contact and emitter materials in CdTe photovoltaic devices. In addition to the increase in short-circuit current by reducing the bandgap, Se plays other important roles in passivation of defects thus improving the conversion efficiency of CdSeTe/CdTe graded absorber photovoltaic devices. Here, we combine structural and optical characterizations with first principles calculations to investigate the role of Se and Cl segregation in CdSeTe devices. We find that in the presence of Se and Cl, the minority carrier lifetime improves due to a reduction of midgap defect states. We also correlate this effect with defect passivation in CdSeTe devices and suggest innovative ways to further improve CdTe-based photovoltaic efficiency.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5123169},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 15,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {10}
}
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DOI:  10.1063/1.5123169
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