The present contribution aims at determining the impact of modifying the properties of the absorber/buffer layer interface on the electrical performance of Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) thin-film solar cells, by using a Cd2+ partial electrolyte (Cd PE) treatment of the absorber before the buffer layer deposition. In this work, CZTSe/CdS solar cells with and without Cd PE treatment were compared with their respective Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGSe)/CdS references. The Cd PE treatment was performed in a chemical bath for 7min at 70 degrees C using a basic solution of cadmium acetate. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements have revealed the presence of Cd at the absorber surface after the treatment. The solar cells were characterized using current density-voltage (J-V), external quantum efficiency, and drive-level capacitance profiling measurements. For the CZTSe-based devices, the fill factor increased from 57.7% to 64.0% when using the Cd PE treatment, leading to the improvement of the efficiency () from 8.3% to 9.0% for the best solar cells. Similar observations were made on the CIGSe solar cell reference. This effect comes from a considerable reduction of the series resistance (R-S) of the dark and light J-V, as determined using the one-diode model. The crossover effect between dark and light J-V curves is also significantly reduced by Cd PE treatment. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This work was supported in part by the Flemish Government, Department of Economy, Science and Innovation. Tom De Geyter, Greetje Godiers, and Guido Huyberechts from Flamac in Gent are acknowledged for sputtering of the metal layers. A.G.C. is acknowledged for providing the substrates and Hamamatsu Photonics for providing the C12132 near-infrared compact fluorescence lifetime measurement system. CZTSe/CdS heterojunction; CIGSe/CdS heterojunction; Cd PE treatment; interface recombination; kesterite; chalcopyrite


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Impact of the Cd2+ treatment on the electrical properties of Cu2ZnSnSe4 and Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 solar cells




    Publication date :

    2015




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English



    Classification :

    BKL:    53.36 Energiedirektumwandler, elektrische Energiespeicher