Electrochemical degradation modes in bifacial silicon photovoltaic modules

Sulas‐Kern, Dana B.; Owen‐Bellini, Michael; Ndione, Paul; Spinella, Laura; Sinha, Archana; Uličná, Soňa; Johnston, Steve; Schelhas, Laura T.

doi:10.1002/pip.3530

Title: Electrochemical degradation modes in bifacial silicon photovoltaic modules

Journal Article · Tue Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Progress in Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3530· OSTI ID:1865166

Sulas‐Kern, Dana B. ^[1];

^[1]; Ndione, Paul ^[1];

^[1];

^[2];

^[2]; Johnston, Steve ^[1];

^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Motivated by the rapidly rising deployment of bifacial monocrystalline-silicon photovoltaics (PV), we investigate the durability of various PV module packaging configurations with transparent coverings on both the front and rear sides of the module. We use a series of bifacial passivated emitter and rear cell (p-PERC) mini-modules with systematically varying outer cover materials (glass/glass, G/G, or glass/transparent backsheet, G/TB) and encapsulant chemistries (poly [ethylene-co-vinyl acetate], EVA; or polyolefin, POE). We study degradation modes over 1,000 hours of combined damp heat (DH) exposure and high system voltages that can cause potential-induced degradation (PID) under positive, zero, or negative 1,000 V cell-to-frame bias. We analyze the degradation modes using a combination of current-voltage measurements, impedance spectroscopy, external quantum efficiency, and spatially resolved luminescence and thermal imaging. Our results highlight various types of degradation including shunting, enhanced recombination, and series resistance increases, and we use spatially resolved characterization to separately identify the localized effects. We show that multiple PID and moisture-ingress degradation modes severely affect EVA-containing modules, with previously reported PID processes under negative-bias DH and a unique observation of rear-side surface recombination in G/EVA/G modules under positive-bias DH. We observe significantly less degradation in POE-containing modules, where the G/POE/G configuration exhibits minimal degradation under all stress conditions that we employ.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; 32509; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1865166

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1841147; OSTI ID: 1874987

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-80413; TRN: US2305836

Journal Information:: Progress in Photovoltaics, Vol. 30, Issue 8; ISSN 1062-7995

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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