Article
Energy & Fuels
Lilan Wen, Lei Zhao, Guanghong Wang, Xiaojie Jia, Xiaohua Xu, Shiyu Qu, Xiaotong Li, Xianyang Zhang, Ke Xin, Jihong Xiao, Wenjing Wang
Summary: The trilayer a-SiOx:H(i) stacked passivation structure was designed for SHJ solar cells on n-type c-Si wafer to improve their fill factor (FF). By depositing a-SiOx:H(i) layers with different oxygen contents using PECVD, highly efficient SHJ solar cells with an average efficiency of 25.37% were achieved. The trilayer passivation scheme demonstrated higher JSC, VOC, and slightly increased FF compared to solar cells with complete a-Si:H passivation layers.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Nicholas E. Grant, Pietro P. Altermatt, Tim Niewelt, Regina Post, Wolfram Kwapil, Martin C. Schubert, John D. Murphy
Summary: Czochralski-grown gallium-doped silicon wafers are commonly used for commercial PERC devices due to their enhanced stability. The carrier lifetime of these wafers can reach into the millisecond region without additional processing, showing an advantage over boron-doped silicon. The stability of gallium-doped PERC cells under illumination varies, with some cells exhibiting degradation and recovery resembling LeTID, while others remain stable.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Alexandros Cruz, Darja Erfurt, Philipp Wagner, Anna B. Morales-Vilches, Florian Ruske, Rutger Schlatmann, Bernd Stannowski
Summary: Silicon heterojunction technology shows promising potential for solar cells, but the current loss related to the front and rear contacts remains a limiting factor. By using dielectric layers to reduce the thickness of the transparent conductive oxide (TCO), parasitic absorption and material consumption can be diminished, but resistive losses also increase. Experimental bifacial cells with 20 nm TCO perform similarly to reference cells with 75 nm, and a screen printing metallization method enhances the current density without compromising resistive losses. This approach has resulted in a certified champion cell with an efficiency of 24.6%.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(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.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Zhang Bo-Yu, Zhou Jia-Kai, Ren Cheng-Chao, Su Xiang-Lin, Ren Hui-Zhi, Zhao Ying, Zhang Xiao-Dan, Hou Guo-Fu
Summary: This paper investigates methods to improve the quality of aSi:H/c-Si interfaces and the effects of p-type emitter in SHJ solar cells. By studying the effects of buffer layer and emitter thickness on passivation layer quality, as well as the doping level on photoelectric properties, optimal experimental conditions are obtained. Ultimately, a silicon heterojunction solar cell with an efficiency of 20.96% is fabricated based on commercial silicon wafer.
ACTA PHYSICA SINICA
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Benedikt Fischer, Wolfhard Beyer, Andreas Lambertz, Maurice Nuys, Weiyuan Duan, Kaining Ding, Uwe Rau
Summary: The application of thin underdense a-Si:H films for passivation of c-Si in SHJ solar cell technology has been investigated. The microstructure of underdense a-Si:H films was studied using Raman spectroscopy, effusion, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The results showed that molecular hydrogen plays an important role in the passivation process. Solar cells using underdense a-Si:H as i1-layer achieved a maximum efficiency of 24.1%.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Chaoqi Wang, Martin Foldyna, Erik Johnson, Pere Roca i Cabarrocas
Summary: The study demonstrates the potential of triple radial junction silicon nanowire solar cells, fabricated using hydrogenated amorphous silicon, for applications requiring high voltages and large surface areas, such as water splitting. High open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density were achieved by optimizing the SiNW density on substrates, showcasing the efficiency of these solar cells.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Muhammad Quddamah Khokhar, Hasnain Yousuf, Xinyi Fan, Seungyong Han, Youngkuk Kim, Suresh Kumar Dhungel, Junsin Yi
Summary: This study examines tunnel oxide passivated contact on p-type silicon wafers (p-TOPCon) passivated with n-polysilicon for solar cells using the numerical simulation program Quokka-3. The effects of polysilicon passivated contact on thickness, bulk lifetime, resistivity, and charge carrier selectivity are investigated. The study demonstrates that back-emitter solar cells with n-polysilicon passivated contact result in higher internal power and reduced shading loss, but the reduced minority carrier lifetime of the p-type wafer limits efficiency. A configuration for high-efficiency solar cells on p-type wafers using rear-emitter n-polysilicon passivated contact is proposed, along with a roadmap for achieving 24.87% efficiency in p-TOPCon solar cells through n-type polysilicon passivated contact.
ADVANCED THEORY AND SIMULATIONS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Somin Park, Youngkuk Kim, Junsin Yi, Muhammad Aleem Zahid, Muhammad Quddamah Khokhar, Shahzada Qamar Hussain
Summary: This study investigates the optical and electrical properties of indium zinc oxide (IZO) films compared to indium tin oxide (ITO) films, and introduces a double layer antireflection coating (DLARC) structure using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) system. The DLARC, consisting of IZO and Al2O3, significantly improves the performance of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jun-Sik Cho, Yeong Hun Seo, Ahreum Lee, Sungeun Park, Kihwan Kim, Ara Cho, Seungkyu Ahn, Jinsu Yoo, Joo Hyung Park
Summary: Transparent photovoltaic tandem devices with controlled absorber thickness exhibited high power conversion efficiencies and improved performance under bifacial illumination. These devices maintained excellent PV performance even at low-light intensities.
APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Kai Sporleder, Jan Bauer, Bengt Jaeckel, Volker Nauman, Marko Turek, Christian Hagendorf
Summary: Detrimental corrosive potential-induced degradation was found at the rear side of bifacial solar cells recently. This nonreversible effect causes typical surface damages at the micrometer scale and electrical losses even in areas without visible damage. The cracks in the nanometer scale at the interface between Si bulk and Al2O3 are believed to originate from oxidation of Si bulk due to potential-induced degradation stress.
PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI-RAPID RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
Jonathan L. Bryan, Joe V. Carpenter, Zhengshan J. Yu, Ashling (Mehdi) Leilaeioun, Jianwei Shi, William Weigand, Kathryn C. Fisher, Zachary C. Holman
Summary: Contacts implemented on the rear side of silicon heterojunction solar cells, such as a-Si:H(i)/a-Si:H(n)/Al and a-Si:H(i)/a-Si:H(p)/Al, demonstrate promising performance in electrical test structures and full-area solar cells. The stability and performance of the contacts are affected by annealing temperature and thickness of doped a-Si:H layers. Transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis help to explain Al-Si interactions at the interfaces and understand the limiting materials properties affecting contact stability.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Feiyu Xu, Giorgio Nava, Prithwish Biswas, Isabelle Dulalia, Haiyang Wang, Zaira Alibay, Mark Gale, Dylan J. Kline, Brandon Wagner, Lorenzo Mangolini, Michael R. Zachariah
Summary: This study explores the nucleation and growth of sub-10 nm Si particles using low-temperature non-equilibrium plasma, with findings showing that amorphous Si nanoparticles contain more hydrogen and exhibit better performance in pressure output compared to crystalline Si nanoparticles. Incorporating hydrogen into nanoenergetic materials is a promising strategy for enhancing their energetic performance.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
Yuchao Zhang, Li Wang, Daniel Chen, Moonyong Kim, Brett Hallam
Summary: This study investigated the efficiency potential of fully screen-printed PERC solar cells through numerical simulations, revealing significant limitations from carrier recombination losses at the metal/silicon interface. Recommendations for improvements were made to overcome these limitations and achieve higher efficiencies.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Damla Kocak, Konstantin Tsoi, Deniz Turkay, Mehmet Koc, Ergi Donercark, Hulya Budunoglu, Selcuk Yerci
Summary: Silicon solar cells' efficiency is boosted by utilizing various strategies such as advanced texturing, multilayer anti-reflecting coating, and rear reflectors. Dielectrics deposited under vacuum environments are used to reduce metal absorption. This study shows that solution-based silica aerogel thin film is an ideal candidate for rear reflectors due to its low cost and near unity refractive index. The morphology of the spin-coated aerogel thin films can be controlled by altering solution concentration and spin-coating speed. Incorporating aerogel in silicon heterojunction solar cells also reduces indium consumption required for TCO by more than 50%.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jun Peng, Felipe Kremer, Daniel Walter, Yiliang Wu, Yi Ji, Jin Xiang, Wenzhu Liu, The Duong, Heping Shen, Teng Lu, Frank Brink, Dingyong Zhong, Li Li, Olivier Lee Cheong Lem, Yun Liu, Klaus J. Weber, Thomas P. White, Kylie R. Catchpole
Summary: Perovskite solar cells are at the forefront of emerging photovoltaic technologies due to their rapid development in efficiency and stability. This study introduces a reverse-doping process to fabricate nitrogen-doped titanium oxide electron transport layers, which significantly improves the charge transport performance and fill factor of the cells.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Wenzhu Liu, Jianhua Shi, Liping Zhang, Anjun Han, Shenglei Huang, Xiaodong Li, Jun Peng, Yuhao Yang, Yajun Gao, Jian Yu, Kai Jiang, Xinbo Yang, Zhenfei Li, Wenjie Zhao, Junlin Du, Xin Song, Jun Yin, Jie Wang, Youlin Yu, Qiang Shi, Zhixin Ma, Haichuan Zhang, Jiajia Ling, Lujia Xu, Jingxuan Kang, Fuzong Xu, Jiang Liu, Hanyuan Liu, Yi Xie, Fanying Meng, Stefaan De Wolf, Frederic Laquai, Zengfeng Di, Zhengxin Liu
Summary: Recent research has shown that light soaking can efficiently enhance the dark conductance of boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon films, providing a new approach to improve fill factors and photovoltaic performance.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Kai Jiang, Yuhao Yang, Zhu Yan, Shenglei Huang, Xiaodong Li, Zhenfei Li, Yinuo Zhou, Liping Zhang, Fanying Meng, Zhengxin Liu, Wenzhu Liu
Summary: This study focuses on the design of silicon heterojunction solar cells, considering both surface passivation and stability. By modifying the film structure and introducing a protective layer, a balance between high efficiency and stability is achieved.
SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
(2022)