A Novel Metal Precursor Structure for Electrodepositing Ultrathin CIGSe Thin Film Solar Cell with High Efficiency.

The two-step process of electrodeposition and selenization is one of the most effective methods for producing CIGSe and CZTSe solar cells at a low cost. However, it is difficult to prepare the ultrathin CIGSe absorber by electrodeposition due to the nonuniform deposition of Cu on the Mo substrate. In this study, Cu was deposited on a Sb film instead of a Mo film, and the 3D growth mode of Cu was changed. Uniform and smooth ultrathin Cu films were fabricated on the Sb film using a pulse frequency over a range from 1000 Hz to 10000 Hz and a pulse current density ranging from 31.25 mA/cm2 to 62.5 mA/cm2. Owing to the improved uniformity of Cu/In/Ga films, the thickness of the CIGSe absorber was reduced from 2 μm to 0.36 μm with the Sb incorporation. In addition, the effects of Sb-doping on the CIGSe absorbers and the device performance were investigated. The crystallinity of the CIGSe films was improved, and the interface recombination of the solar cells was reduced by Sb incorporation. Ultimately, CIGSe thin film solar cells with efficiencies of 5.25% and 11.27% were obtained with CIGSe absorber thicknesses of 0.36 μm and 1.2 μm, respectively.

[1]  Yun Sun,et al.  Modified crystal quality of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells: Elimination of island-shaped indium layer by pulse current electrodeposition method , 2018, Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

[2]  L. Mansfield,et al.  Efficiency increased to 15.2% for ultra‐thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells , 2018, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications.

[3]  Honglie Shen,et al.  Performance enhancement in Sb doped Cu(InGa)Se 2 thin film solar cell by e-beam evaporation , 2018 .

[4]  Q. Gong,et al.  A study on mechanisms of Sb-doping induced grain growth for Cu(InGa)Se2 absorbers deposited from quaternary targets , 2017 .

[5]  M. Jubault,et al.  Ultrathin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based solar cells , 2017 .

[6]  Yun Sun,et al.  Controllable Growth of Ga Film Electrodeposited from Aqueous Solution and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells. , 2017, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[7]  N. Naghavi,et al.  The impact of reducing the thickness of electrodeposited stacked Cu/In/Ga layers on the performance of CIGS solar cells , 2017 .

[8]  Weifeng Liu,et al.  Rapid thermal process to fabricate Sb2Se3 thin film for solar cell application , 2016 .

[9]  A. Aberle,et al.  Efficiency enhancement of ultra-thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells: optimizing the absorber bandgap profile by numerical device simulations , 2016 .

[10]  Yun Sun,et al.  Pulse electro-deposition of copper on molybdenum for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cell applications , 2016 .

[11]  Xudong Xiao,et al.  Bandgap optimization of submicron‐thick Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells , 2015 .

[12]  Jiang Tang,et al.  Thin-film Sb2Se3 photovoltaics with oriented one-dimensional ribbons and benign grain boundaries , 2015, Nature Photonics.

[13]  M. Schmid,et al.  Enhanced performance of ultra-thin Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells deposited at low process temperature , 2015 .

[14]  K. Ramanathan,et al.  Defect properties of Sb- and Bi-doped CuInSe2: The effect of the deep lone-pair s states , 2014 .

[15]  Junfeng Han,et al.  Raman and XPS studies of CIGS/Mo interfaces under various annealing temperatures , 2014 .

[16]  Jiang Tang,et al.  Thermal evaporation and characterization of Sb2Se3 thin film for substrate Sb2Se3/CdS solar cells. , 2014, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[17]  Jiang Tang,et al.  Solution‐Processed Antimony Selenide Heterojunction Solar Cells , 2014 .

[18]  A. Pérez‐Rodríguez,et al.  Antimony-based ligand exchange to promote crystallization in spray-deposited Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells. , 2013, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[19]  A. Pérez‐Rodríguez,et al.  Impact of electronic defects on the Raman spectra from electrodeposited Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells: Application for non-destructive defect assessment , 2013 .

[20]  M. Bouttemy,et al.  Study of Copper Electrodeposition Mechanism on Molybdenum Substrate , 2013 .

[21]  Shiro Nishiwaki,et al.  Highly efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells grown on flexible polymer films. , 2011, Nature materials.

[22]  D. Lincot,et al.  Thinning of CIGS solar cells: Part II: Cell characterizations , 2011 .

[23]  N. Barreau,et al.  Systematic study of the complex structure of N1 Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy signal in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 based heterojunctions , 2011 .

[24]  A. Kellock,et al.  Antimony assisted low-temperature processing of CuIn1 − xGaxSe2 − ySy solar cells , 2010 .

[25]  D. Mitzi,et al.  Thermally evaporated Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cells , 2010 .

[26]  M. Powalla,et al.  Raman investigations of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films with various copper contents , 2008 .

[27]  I. Repins,et al.  19·9%‐efficient ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe2 solar cell with 81·2% fill factor , 2008 .

[28]  Rommel Noufi,et al.  SHORT COMMUNICATION: ACCELERATED PUBLICATION: Diode characteristics in state‐of‐the‐art ZnO/CdS/Cu(In1−xGax)Se2 solar cells , 2005 .

[29]  Steven S. Hegedus,et al.  Thin‐film solar cells: device measurements and analysis , 2004 .

[30]  M. Bodegård,et al.  Influence of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thickness and Ga grading on solar cell performance , 2003 .

[31]  Su-Huai Wei,et al.  Effects of Ga addition to CuInSe2 on its electronic, structural, and defect properties , 1998 .

[32]  D. Landolt,et al.  The influence of mass transport on the deposit morphology and the current efficiency in pulse plating of copper , 1989 .