Cu(InxGa1-x)Se2(CIGS) precursor films were prepared on ITO glass with potentiostatic electrodeposition. High quality CIGS films were obtained by selenization of the precursor films at high temperature in tubular furnace full of argon gas. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure, morphology, composition and Vis-NIR absorption of CIGS films, respectively. XRD results show the selenized CIGS films have a preferential orientation (112) with average crystallite of 24.7 nm. Raman spectroscopy reveals that the CIGS films are pure quaternaryphases with chalcopyrite structure, and without binary or ternary phases in the films. Vis-NIR measurements determine that the bandgap of CIGS increases with the increase of Ga concentration in the film. When the Ga concentration is 5.41%, its bandgap is about 1.11 eV, and the calculated ratio of Ga to (Ga+In) is 16.3%, which is less than the ratio of Ga to (Ga+In), 21.4%, measured by SEM. This indicates that crystallinity of CIGS filmsneeds to be further improved. All the measurements demonstratethat optimum ITO/CIGS has a promising application in bifacial solar cells. In this paper, we provide a newmethodtoelectrodeposit low cost CIGS precursor films and a new method forselenization ofthe precursor films at high temperature. As a result, theuniform and compact CIGS films with good adhesion on ITO are successfully fabricated by these methods. The above characterization show that we have obtained CIGS films with high crystallinity, near stoichiometry, few impurity phases and superior light absorption. Electrodeposition, like magnetron sputtering, is very suitable for large-scale industrial production. The research work in this paper is therefore important and considerable to massive production of electrodeposition of CIGS films.
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ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
September 2024
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, P.R. China.
Polycrystalline Cu(InGaAl)Se (CIGAS) thin films were prepared on polyimide (PI) foils by depositing aluminum (Al) and CIGS precursor layers. Three ceramic CIGS quaternary targets with different sodium (Na) contents were used for investigating the influences of alkali doping at an annealing temperature of 500 °C. The Al concentration was enriched at the front interfaces of absorber films with different Na doping amounts after annealing.
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July 2024
School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.
Renewable energy is crucial for sustainable future, and CuZnSnS (CZTS) based solar cells shine as a beacon of hope. CZTS, composed of abundant, low-cost, and non-toxic elements, shares similarities with Cu(In,Ga)Se (CIGS). However, despite its promise and appealing properties for solar cells, CZTS-based solar cells faces performance challenges owing to inherent issues with CZTS material, and conventional substrate structure complexities.
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December 2023
Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics, Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Li-alloying of CuZnSn(S, Se) (CZTSSe) absorbers is widely accepted for its beneficial influence on the performance of CZTSSe-based thin film solar cells. Given the degraded morphology characteristic of absorbers synthesized in the presence of excess Li concentrations, it is speculated that Li may be best incorporated into the absorber after synthesis. Here, we report an innovative method to add Li to synthesized CZTSSe by an electrochemical treatment using a liquid electrolyte.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Sci (Weinh)
January 2024
Center for X-ray and Nano Science CXNS, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany.
Small voids in the absorber layer of thin-film solar cells are generally suspected to impair photovoltaic performance. They have been studied on Cu(In,Ga)Se cells with conventional laboratory techniques, albeit limited to surface characterization and often affected by sample-preparation artifacts. Here, synchrotron imaging is performed on a fully operational as-deposited solar cell containing a few tens of voids.
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September 2023
Departamento de Física, Instituto Politécnico Nacional-ESFM, U.P.A.L.M., San Pedro Zacatenco, CDMX 07738, México.
The cadmium sulfide (CdS) n-type semiconductor is one of the most used as a window layer in thin-film solar cells, such as CdTe, CIS, CIGS, and CZTS. Optoelectronic properties are the most important characteristics for window materials. CdS thin films obtained using the chemical bath deposition technique (CBD) have been reported; however, large amounts of precursor solutions are used, which generate considerable amounts of toxic waste.
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