The impact of sodium contamination in tin sulfide thin-film solar cells

Steinmann, Vera; Brandt, Riley E.; Chakraborty, Rupak; Jaramillo, R.; Young, Matthew; Ofori-Okai, Benjamin K.; Yang, Chuanxi; Polizzotti, Alex; Nelson, Keith A.; Gordon, Roy G.; Buonassisi, Tonio

doi:10.1063/1.4941713

Title: The impact of sodium contamination in tin sulfide thin-film solar cells

Journal Article · Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2016 · APL Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4941713· OSTI ID:1237984

Steinmann, Vera; Brandt, Riley E.; Chakraborty, Rupak; Jaramillo, R.; Young, Matthew;

; Yang, Chuanxi; Polizzotti, Alex; Nelson, Keith A.; Gordon, Roy G.; Buonassisi, Tonio

Empirical observations show that sodium(Na) is a benign contaminant in some thin-filmsolar cells. Here, we intentionally contaminate thermally evaporated tin sulfide (SnS)thin-films with sodium and measure the SnS absorber properties and solar cellcharacteristics. The carrier concentration increases from 2 × 10¹⁶ cm^-3 to 4.3 × 10¹⁷ cm^-3 in Na-doped SnSthin-films, when using a 13 nm NaCl seed layer, which is detrimental for SnS photovoltaic applications but could make Na-doped SnS an attractive candidate in thermoelectrics. We observed trends in carrier concentration and found that it is in good agreement with density functional theory calculations, which predict an acceptor-type NaSn defect with low formation energy.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0005329; EERE Postdoctoral Research Award; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1237984

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1241502; OSTI ID: 1420552

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-66084

Journal Information:: APL Materials, Journal Name: APL Materials Vol. 4 Journal Issue: 2; ISSN 2166-532X

Publisher:: American Institute of PhysicsCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 19 works

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14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
II-VI semiconductors
sodium
solar cells
carrier density
secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)

Title: The impact of sodium contamination in tin sulfide thin-film solar cells

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