Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Istvan Bodnar, David Matusz-Kalasz, Rafael Ruben Boros, Robert Liptak
Summary: The Hungarian society and state are increasing their solar capacity, with more solar power plants being put into operation. Issues such as production loss and module performance reduction have been identified in a study of over a thousand modules in a solar power plant, highlighting the importance of maintenance and monitoring in the solar energy industry.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Bowen Liu, Xinan Shi, Wei Shao, Jiaxin Gao, Chenxi Zhao, Fuyan Chen, Dongdong Shen, Bingsuo Zou, Daocheng Pan
Summary: A novel and green ionic liquid-assisted ink is developed for the fabrication of highly efficient CIGSSe solar cells by inkjet printing. Compared to the conventional vacuum-based deposition and spin-coating solution methods, inkjet printing technology can remarkably improve the material utilization of copper indium gallium sulfur selenium (CIGS) and achieve a flat and continuous deposition of CIGS thin film. The inkjet-printed CIGSSe solar cells show an encouraging power conversion efficiency of 15.22%.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ahrum Jeong, Jae Myung Choi, Hyun-Jae Lee, Gee-Yeong Kim, Jong-Keuk Park, Won Mok Kim, Seungkuk Kuk, Zhen Wang, David J. Hwang, Hyeonggeun Yu, Jeung-hyun Jeong
Summary: Complementary control of the back junction, using a thin Ag precursor layer and KF post-deposition treatment, enables high efficiency and semi-transparent CIGS modules. The KF-induced increased resistances provide benefits in suppressing parasitic shunt current in CIGS solar modules.
PROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Van Ben Chu, Daniel Siopa, Alice Debot, Damilola Adeleye, Mohit Sood, Alberto Lomuscio, Michele Melchiorre, Jerome Guillot, Nathalie Valle, Brahime El Adib, Jonathan Rommelfangen, Phillip J. Dale
Summary: Chemical bath methods for growing thin film semiconductors produce a lot of waste solvent and chemicals. This study successfully replaced the toxic chemical bath deposited CdS buffer layer with a benign inkjet-printed and annealed Zn(O,S) layer, greatly reducing solvent and chemical usage. The wetting and final performance of the Zn(O,S) layer on CIGS can be controlled by various factors, with the best device efficiency reaching 13.5% through optimization.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Sunil Suresh, Alexander R. Uhl
Summary: Photovoltaic technologies provide a sustainable solution to increasing energy demands, with chalcopyrite thin-film solar cells exhibiting high efficiency but typically fabricated using vacuum deposition methods. Research is shifting towards solution processing techniques to improve material usage, increase throughput, and lower commercialization barriers, but performance of current devices falls short of vacuum-processed counterparts.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Yun Jia, Youyang Wang, Xiaobo Hu, Guoen Weng, Jiao Tian, Xianjia Luo, Shaoqiang Chen, Ziqiang Zhu, Hidefumi Akiyama
Summary: The study investigated laser induced damage in a Cu(In, Ga)Se-2 solar cell by irradiating it with a 532 nm continuous wave laser beam. The damage threshold power density was found to be approximately 5000 W/cm(2), with defects attributed to changes in series resistance, transparent conductive oxide layer resistance, and shunt resistance based on electroluminescence imaging and circuit modeling analysis.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Krzysztof Mik, Marcin Bugaj, Patryk Chaja
Summary: In this study, a series of tests were conducted on photovoltaic modules to evaluate the impact of snail tracks. It was found that snail tracks are strongly correlated with micro cracks, but do not influence the power output of the modules. Further analysis revealed no clear relationship between temperature field and snail tracks occurrence.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jakapan Chantana, Yu Kawano, Takahito Nishimura, Abdurashid Mavlonov, Takashi Minemoto
Summary: This study investigates the structure and sample position effects on the performance of flexible, Cd-free, and all-dry process Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGSSe) solar cells on stainless steel substrates. The results show that the sample position plays a vital role in improving the cell performance, with a deviation from material targets leading to enhanced photovoltaic efficiency.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Seung Hoon Lee, Hae-Seok Lee, Donghwan Kim, Yoonmook Kang
Summary: This paper investigates the applicability of lock-in thermography (LIT) in diagnosing shunt defects in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar modules and compares it with biased thermography. The results show that LIT has superior capabilities in enhancing signal-to-noise ratio, improving defect visibility and quantification. The thermal behavior of different types of defects under various voltage conditions is also analyzed, providing valuable insights and scientific guidelines for photovoltaic research.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ke Cheng, Xingfen Shen, Jingling Liu, Xinsheng Liu, Zuliang Du
Summary: A sequential route for low-cost fabrication of high quality Ag-alloyed CIGS absorbers is reported, where Ag-alloying is introduced into the CuInGa precursor to widen the band gap and improve the crystallinity of the ACIGS absorbers. Different Ag thin layer incorporation locations are schemed for deep understanding the band gap energy and crystallinity regulation mechanism of Ag alloying, leading to a notable improvement in Voc. Finally, the ACIGS absorbers are sulfurized to achieve a highest power conversion efficiency of 13.01%.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Pedro Santos, Daniel Brito, Pedro Anacleto, Jose Fonseca, Diana de Brito Sousa, Carlos J. Tavares, Jose Virtuoso, Marina Alves, Ana Perez-Rodriguez, Sascha Sadewasser
Summary: This study investigates the impact of copper stoichiometry on the grain size of sputtered CIGSe absorbers and the efficiency of solar cells. It was found that using a Cu-rich target for sputtering CIGSe films results in larger grain size and better solar cell performance. Additionally, a two-stage process was introduced to further enhance solar cell performance by eliminating unwanted impurities and avoiding toxic etching processes.
IEEE JOURNAL OF PHOTOVOLTAICS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sreekanth Mandati, Prashant Misra, Divya Boosagulla, Narasinga Rao Tata, Sarada V. Bulusu
Summary: CIGS absorbers prepared by direct current electrodeposition process are selenized in a tubular furnace at 550 degrees C in elemental selenium atmosphere using Ar as carrier gas, with the evacuation of tube prior to selenization affecting the formation of CIGS absorbers. Solar cells fabricated using vacuum-based selenization show improved performance compared to non-vacuum selenization, indicating potential for environmentally friendly low-cost solar cells.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yanyan Gao, Chong Liu, Mingzhu He, Cuiling Zhang, Liang Liu, Qinrong Luo, Yanghong Wu, Haoyang Zhang, Xuqi Zhong, Rilang Guo, Yi Xie, Shaohang Wu, Ruud E. I. Schropp, Yaohua Mai
Summary: This article presents a holistic approach to enhance the efficiency and stability of halide perovskite solar cells (PSMs) by preventing the escape of volatile components. Through the in situ generation of channel barrier layers, the resulting PSMs exhibit high aperture power conversion efficiency and remarkable continuous operation stability under damp heat conditions.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Shaohong Yang, Wencai Zhou, Jingjing Qu, Linrui Zhang, Xiaoyu Lv, Zilong Zheng, Xiaoqing Chen, Hui Yan, Ming Zhao, Daming Zhuang
Summary: Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)(2) has distinct advantages as a photovoltaic material, allowing independent tuning of its conduction and valence bands, as well as its composition distribution. Through calculations and simulations, we achieved high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)(2) solar cells with an efficiency of 23.29%, providing an understanding of tunable engineered band energy research.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jakapan Chantana, Bobur Ergashev, Yu Kawano, Takashi Minemoto
Summary: By optimizing the conduction band minimum difference and the total band alignment between different layers, the photovoltaic performance of CIGSSe solar cells can be improved.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Basita Das, Irene Aguilera, Uwe Rau, Thomas Kirchartz
PHYSICAL REVIEW MATERIALS
(2020)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Kaifu Qiu, Manuel Pomaska, Shenghao Li, Andreas Lambertz, Weiyuan Duan, Alaaeldin Gad, Matthias Geitner, Jana Brugger, Zongcun Liang, Hui Shen, Friedhelm Finger, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2020)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Shenghao Li, Manuel Pomaska, Jan Hoss, Jan Lossen, Kaifui Qiu, Ruijiang Hong, Friedhelm Finger, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
Summary: Hot-wire chemical vapor deposition was used to rapidly grow high-quality phosphorus-doped amorphous silicon thin films for carrier-selective passivating contacts on polycrystalline silicon. Material properties such as microstructures were analyzed to optimize passivating contact performance. The study found that a certain microstructure of the films is crucial for passivation quality and contact conductance.
PROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Zhuopeng Wu, Weiyuan Duan, Andreas Lambertz, Depeng Qiu, Manuel Pomaska, Zhirong Yao, Uwe Rau, Liping Zhang, Zhengxin Liu, Kaining Ding
Summary: This study demonstrates the implementation of trimethyl boron doped p-type a-Si:H film as a hole transport layer contacting with indium-free aluminum doped zinc oxide in silicon heterojunction solar cells. The research shows that moderate doping concentration can help achieve low defect density and high doping level in the film, resulting in improved cell performance with low contact resistivity.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Osbel Almora, Carlos I. Cabrera, Jose Garcia-Cerrillo, Thomas Kirchartz, Uwe Rau, Christoph J. Brabec
Summary: The text explores the use of external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectrum to evaluate energy-dependent photocurrent losses in photovoltaic devices. It discusses the estimation of theoretical short-circuit current and photovoltaic bandgap energy from the EQE spectrum, as well as the analysis of sigmoid wavelength range in determining absorption onset steepness. Additionally, it examines the relationship between photovoltage losses and implications on the photocurrent Shockley-Queisser (SQ) model.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Weiyuan Duan, Andreas Lambertz, Karsten Bittkau, Depeng Qiu, Kaifu Qiu, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
Summary: This work proposes a route to achieve a certified efficiency of up to 24.51% for silicon heterojunction solar cell by mainly improving the design of the hydrogenated intrinsic amorphous silicon on the rear side of the solar cell and the back reflector. By optimizing the thickness of a dense second intrinsic a-Si:H layer and depositing a low-refractive-index MgF2 before the Ag layer, an improved fill factor and gain of short circuit current density are obtained. Together with MgF2 double antireflection coating and other fine optimizations, a similar to 1% absolute efficiency enhancement is finally obtained.
PROGRESS IN PHOTOVOLTAICS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Li-Chung Kin, Oleksandr Astakhov, Minoh Lee, Stefan Haas, Kaining Ding, Tsvetelina Merdzhanova, Uwe Rau
Summary: Direct solar-powered hydrogen generation has great potential as a renewable fuel, but there are issues with degradation of EC catalysts and excessive cyclic degradation under insufficient illumination. Directly coupling a battery to the artificial leaf can address these issues and improve the efficiency of solar-to-hydrogen conversion.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Juergen Huepkes, Uwe Rau, Thomas Kirchartz
Summary: This study investigates the impact of electrostatics on device performance for classical solar cells and perovskite solar cells through numerical simulations. It emphasizes the importance of permittivity variations on device efficiency and proposes the principle of optimizing device design by minimizing volume and selecting charge transport layers with adapted permittivity.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Basita Das, Irene Aguilera, Uwe Rau, Thomas Kirchartz
Summary: This study uses numerical simulations to investigate the influence of doping and photodoping on photoluminescence quantum yield and device performance. The results reveal that doping can enhance photoluminescence quantum yield by accelerating radiative recombination. However, high doping densities may reduce the diffusion length, leading to inefficient carrier collection and consequently lower photovoltaic performance. Therefore, the improvement of photovoltaic performance may require optimum doping densities.
ADVANCED OPTICAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Depeng Qiu, Weiyuan Duan, Andreas Lambertz, Alexander Eberst, Karsten Bittkau, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
Summary: Mitigating the adverse effect of TCO sputtering on passivation quality of heterojunction contact is crucial for high-efficiency SHJ solar cells. Denser nc-Si:H(n) can reduce sputter damage and improve cell performance.
Review
Electrochemistry
Minoh Lee, Stefan Haas, Vladimir Smirnov, Tsvetelina Merdzhanova, Uwe Rau
Summary: This review article provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in large-scale photovoltaic (PV)-driven water splitting for hydrogen generation. It covers the basic principles of water splitting, different types of PV-driven water splitting devices, recent advances in scalable PV-electrochemical water splitting devices, and cost predictions and challenges to be addressed.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Habtamu Tsegaye Gebrewold, Karsten Bittkau, Kaifu Qiu, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
Summary: The potential performance of silicon heterojunction solar cells with transparent passivating contact (TPC) at the front side is investigated. An electro-optical device model is developed to understand and analyze the cells. The influences of contact layer thicknesses and other properties on device performance are studied, and algorithm-based optimization is performed. Potential improvements in optical performance and power conversion efficiency are found, and optimizing carrier transport at the rear side shows potential for achieving high conversion efficiency.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Sergey Shcherbachenko, Oleksandr Astakhov, Ugochi Chime, Li-Chung Kin, Kaining Ding, Bart Pieters, Uwe Rau, Egbert Figgemeier, Tsvetelina Merdzhanova
Summary: This study investigates the feasibility of using direct PV-to-battery coupling as an alternative to MPPT under realistic conditions, demonstrating stable high power matching under different irradiance, temperature, and battery state of charge. The results show that direct coupling can achieve power coupling efficiencies above 90% for a wide range of load power, making it a feasible option for various practical applications.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Mario Zinsser, Tim Helder, Theresa Magorian Friedlmeier, Andreas Bauer, Thomas Kirchartz, Uwe Rau, Rolf Waechter, Michael Powalla
Summary: Precise modeling of solar cell devices is crucial for optimizing and improving future technologies. The authors present a verified numerical model that can analyze losses and predict energy yield of thin film solar cells. The holistic simulation approach includes various physical levels and allows for accurate predictions and analysis of module behavior.
COMMUNICATIONS PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
T. S. Vaas, B. E. Pieters, T. Magorian Friedlmeier, A. Gerber, U. Rau
Summary: This article introduces a method of extrapolating module performance in various climates based on cell performance measured under different conditions. By using standardized climatic data, the expected annual yield on module level can be quickly determined, allowing for the assessment of potential yield improvements through cell optimizations.
IEEE JOURNAL OF PHOTOVOLTAICS
(2023)
