IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms13231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

In-depth analysis of chloride treatments for thin-film CdTe solar cells

Author

Listed:
  • J. D. Major

    (University of Liverpool)

  • M. Al Turkestani

    (Umm Al-Qura University, KSA)

  • L. Bowen

    (G.J. Russell Microscopy Facility, Durham University)

  • M. Brossard

    (University of Southampton, School of Physics & Astronomy
    Centre for Photonics and Quantum Materials, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology)

  • C. Li

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    Present address: Department of Lithospheric Research, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria)

  • P. Lagoudakis

    (University of Southampton, School of Physics & Astronomy
    Centre for Photonics and Quantum Materials, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology)

  • S. J. Pennycook

    (National University of Singapore)

  • L. J. Phillips

    (University of Liverpool)

  • R. E. Treharne

    (University of Liverpool)

  • K. Durose

    (University of Liverpool)

Abstract

CdTe thin-film solar cells are now the main industrially established alternative to silicon-based photovoltaics. These cells remain reliant on the so-called chloride activation step in order to achieve high conversion efficiencies. Here, by comparison of effective and ineffective chloride treatments, we show the main role of the chloride process to be the modification of grain boundaries through chlorine accumulation, which leads an increase in the carrier lifetime. It is also demonstrated that while improvements in fill factor and short circuit current may be achieved through use of the ineffective chlorides, or indeed simple air annealing, voltage improvement is linked directly to chlorine incorporation at the grain boundaries. This suggests that focus on improved or more controlled grain boundary treatments may provide a route to achieving higher cell voltages and thus efficiencies.

Suggested Citation

  • J. D. Major & M. Al Turkestani & L. Bowen & M. Brossard & C. Li & P. Lagoudakis & S. J. Pennycook & L. J. Phillips & R. E. Treharne & K. Durose, 2016. "In-depth analysis of chloride treatments for thin-film CdTe solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13231
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13231
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13231
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms13231?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13231. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.