IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v4y2019i10d10.1038_s41560-019-0446-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells

Author

Listed:
  • W. K. Metzger

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • S. Grover

    (First Solar)

  • D. Lu

    (First Solar)

  • E. Colegrove

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • J. Moseley

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • C. L. Perkins

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • X. Li

    (First Solar)

  • R. Mallick

    (First Solar)

  • W. Zhang

    (First Solar)

  • R. Malik

    (First Solar)

  • J. Kephart

    (First Solar)

  • C.-S. Jiang

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • D. Kuciauskas

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • D. S. Albin

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • M. M. Al-Jassim

    (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

  • G. Xiong

    (First Solar)

  • M. Gloeckler

    (First Solar)

Abstract

CdTe-based solar technology has achieved one of the lowest levelized costs of electricity among all energy sources as well as state-of-the-art field stability. Yet, there is still ample headroom to improve. For decades, mainstream technology has combined fast CdTe deposition with a CdCl2 anneal and Cu doping. The resulting defect chemistry is strongly compensated and limits the useful hole density to ~1014 cm−3, creating a ceiling for fill factor, photovoltage and efficiency. In addition, Cu easily changes energy states and diffuses spatially, creating a risk of instabilities that must be managed with care. Here, we demonstrate a significant shift by doping polycrystalline CdSexTe1 − x and CdTe films with As while removing Cu entirely from the solar cell. The absorber majority-carrier density is increased by orders of magnitude to 1016–1017 cm−3 without compromising the lifetime, and is coupled with a high photocurrent greater than 30 mA cm−2. We demonstrate pathways for fast dopant incorporation in polycrystalline thin films, improved stability and 20.8% solar cell efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • W. K. Metzger & S. Grover & D. Lu & E. Colegrove & J. Moseley & C. L. Perkins & X. Li & R. Mallick & W. Zhang & R. Malik & J. Kephart & C.-S. Jiang & D. Kuciauskas & D. S. Albin & M. M. Al-Jassim & G., 2019. "Exceeding 20% efficiency with in situ group V doping in polycrystalline CdTe solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 837-845, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:4:y:2019:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-019-0446-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0446-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0446-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-019-0446-7?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chee, A. Kuan-Way, 2023. "On current technology for light absorber materials used in highly efficient industrial solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Alessandro Romeo & Elisa Artegiani, 2021. "CdTe-Based Thin Film Solar Cells: Past, Present and Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-24, March.
    3. Jianjun Li & Jialiang Huang & Fajun Ma & Heng Sun & Jialin Cong & Karen Privat & Richard F. Webster & Soshan Cheong & Yin Yao & Robert Lee Chin & Xiaojie Yuan & Mingrui He & Kaiwen Sun & Hui Li & Yaoh, 2022. "Unveiling microscopic carrier loss mechanisms in 12% efficient Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(8), pages 754-764, August.

    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:natene:v:4:y:2019:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-019-0446-7. 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.