Voltage Loss Comparison in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells and Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures
Abstract
Cd(Se)Te solar cells have considerable headroom to increase voltage. Voltage losses occur due to incomplete absorption above bandgap E_g and band tail absorption below E_g; such losses are quantified using radiative voltage. The largest voltage losses are attributed to nonradiative recombination, which is quantified via carrier lifetime and radiative efficiency. We compare radiative voltage, radiative efficiency, and carrier lifetime for Cu-doped CdSe/CdTe solar cells and for undoped polycrystalline CdSeTe heterostructures passivated with Al_2O_3. Using external quantum efficiency spectrum and a CdSeTe absorption spectrum obtained from absolute photoluminescence (PL), we show that the radiative voltage is greater than 1.1 V. Time-resolved PL experiments and modeling show that a major part of voltage losses can be attributed to recombination in the absorber bulk. The front interface recombination makes a larger impact within the first few nanoseconds after pulsed excitation, and the comparison of time-gated and time-integrated PL can be used to assess relative contributions of front interface and bulk recombination rates.
- Authors:
-
[1];
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- First Solar, Santa Clara, CA (United States)
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1832225
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-80318
Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381; MainId:42521;UUID:0c9c3cd2-5016-4f2a-8c2e-bbec14c45300;MainAdminID:63299
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; CdTe; characterization; recombination; thin film PV
Citation Formats
Kuciauskas, Darius, Li, Siming, Moseley, John, Albin, David, Lee, Chungho, Onno, Arthur Louis, and Holman, Zachary Charles. Voltage Loss Comparison in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells and Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1109/jphotov.2021.3117914.
Kuciauskas, Darius, Li, Siming, Moseley, John, Albin, David, Lee, Chungho, Onno, Arthur Louis, & Holman, Zachary Charles. Voltage Loss Comparison in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells and Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2021.3117914
Kuciauskas, Darius, Li, Siming, Moseley, John, Albin, David, Lee, Chungho, Onno, Arthur Louis, and Holman, Zachary Charles. Wed .
"Voltage Loss Comparison in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells and Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2021.3117914. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1832225.
@article{osti_1832225,
title = {Voltage Loss Comparison in CdSe/CdTe Solar Cells and Polycrystalline CdSeTe Heterostructures},
author = {Kuciauskas, Darius and Li, Siming and Moseley, John and Albin, David and Lee, Chungho and Onno, Arthur Louis and Holman, Zachary Charles},
abstractNote = {Cd(Se)Te solar cells have considerable headroom to increase voltage. Voltage losses occur due to incomplete absorption above bandgap E_g and band tail absorption below E_g; such losses are quantified using radiative voltage. The largest voltage losses are attributed to nonradiative recombination, which is quantified via carrier lifetime and radiative efficiency. We compare radiative voltage, radiative efficiency, and carrier lifetime for Cu-doped CdSe/CdTe solar cells and for undoped polycrystalline CdSeTe heterostructures passivated with Al_2O_3. Using external quantum efficiency spectrum and a CdSeTe absorption spectrum obtained from absolute photoluminescence (PL), we show that the radiative voltage is greater than 1.1 V. Time-resolved PL experiments and modeling show that a major part of voltage losses can be attributed to recombination in the absorber bulk. The front interface recombination makes a larger impact within the first few nanoseconds after pulsed excitation, and the comparison of time-gated and time-integrated PL can be used to assess relative contributions of front interface and bulk recombination rates.},
doi = {10.1109/jphotov.2021.3117914},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},
number = 1,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Wed Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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