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Exceeding 200 ns Lifetimes in Polycrystalline CdTe Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Ablekim Tursun,
Duenow Joel N.,
Perkins Craig L.,
Moseley John,
Zheng Xin,
Bidaud Thomas,
Frouin Berengere,
Collin Stephane,
Reese Matthew O.,
Amarasinghe Mahisha,
Colegrove Eric,
Johnston Steve,
Metzger Wyatt K.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
solar rrl
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.544
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2367-198X
DOI - 10.1002/solr.202100173
Subject(s) - passivation , cadmium telluride photovoltaics , materials science , photovoltaics , optoelectronics , solar cell , carrier lifetime , open circuit voltage , common emitter , photovoltaic system , tellurium , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , voltage , silicon , electrical engineering , engineering , metallurgy
CdTe photovoltaics has achieved one of the lowest levelized costs of electricity among all energy sources. However, for decades, carrier lifetimes have been inferior to those of other prevalent solar cell materials. This quality has inhibited common methods to improve solar cell efficiency such as back‐surface fields, electron reflectors, or bifacial solar cells. In this work, a significant increase in carrier lifetime to values exceeding 200 ns in fully functional CdTe solar cells is demonstrated. The increased lifetime is achieved by large CdSeTe grains at the absorber/emitter interface, intragrain passivation in the absorber layer, and chemical passivation by forming nanoscale oxidized tellurium species at the transparent conducting oxide interface. The carrier lifetime is correlated to the open‐circuit voltage and enables paths for back‐surface manipulation and novel cell architectures to further improve CdTe photovoltaic performance.