Superstrate CdS/CdTe thin‐film solar cells with Cu‐free transition metal oxide (TMO)/Au and Au‐only back contacts have been fabricated. The TMOs include MoO 3‐x , V 2 O 5‐x , and WO 3‐x . The incorporation of the TMO buffer layers at the back contacts resulted in significant improvement on open‐circuit voltage ( V OC ) as compared with the cells with Cu‐free Au‐only back contacts. Among the cells using TMO buffer layers, the ones with MoO 3‐x buffer layers exhibited the best performance, yielding an efficiency of 14.1% under AM1.5 illumination with V OC of 815 mV and a fill factor of 67.9%. Though the performance is slightly behind the best reference cell with a Cu/Au back contact fabricated in our lab with V OC of 844 mV, fill factor of 76.3%, and efficiency of 15.7%, the use of Cu‐free back contacts may lead to improved long‐term cell stability. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This work explores the potential application of Cu‐free back buffer layers at the back contact of CdS/CdTe solar cells. Thin‐film CdS/CdTe cells with MoO 3‐x /Au,V 2 O 5‐x /Au, and WO 3‐x /Au back contacts exhibited efficiencies of 14.1%, 13.6%, and 12.9% under AM1.5 illumination without any anti‐reflection coatings for the cells, respectively. The incorporation of the TMO buffer layers at the back contact resulted in significant improvement on open‐circuit voltage (nearly 100 mV) as compared with the cells with Cu‐free Au‐only back contacts.


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    Title :

    CdS/CdTe thin‐film solar cells with Cu‐free transition metal oxide/Au back contacts



    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2015




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    53.36 Energiedirektumwandler, elektrische Energiespeicher