| 1. |
- Bayrak Pehlivan, Ilknur, et al.
(författare)
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Bifunctional solar electrocatalytic water splitting using CIGS solar modules and WO3-based electrolyzers
- 2019
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Ingår i: EMRS Spring Meeting 2019.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using energy from the sun to produce a fuel and finally obtaining only water as an exhaust is a promising future technology for renewable energy and environmental sustainability. Solar driven water splitting is a method to produce hydrogen from solar energy. Coupling a solar cell with an electrolyzer is the approach with highest technological readiness. CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS) is here a promising solar cell material for water splitting because it is possible to tune the band gap between 1.0 and 1.7 eV by changing the ratio between Ga and In, thus enabling maximum power point matching with an electrolyzer. Tungsten oxide is known as a photocatalytic material and mainly used for the oxygen evolution reaction in a water splitting process. However, WO3 films also show electrochromic activity together with hydrogen evolution. This result is interesting because it shows that WO3 films can be used as bifunctional materials for both hydrogen and oxygen evolution in water splitting, and provide additional functionalities to the system. In this study, WO3 films coated at different sputtering conditions on Ni foam and indium tin oxide substrates were investigated in the potential range of the hydrogen evolution reaction. The best overpotential of 164 mV vs. RHE at 10 mA/cm2 was obtained for WO3 films on Ni foam in 0.5 M H2SO4. The lowest potential needed for 10 mA/cm2 was measured 1.768 V for the electrolyzers consisting WO3 films on Ni foam as the cathode and non-coated Ni foam as the anode. Optimum solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of the CIGS solar cell modules and the electrolyzers was examined for different band gaps of the CIGS modules and sputtering conditions of WO3 films. Operation points of the combined system were calculated from the intersection of the voltage-current density curves for the CIGS modules and the electrolyzers. The results showed that the detailed sputtering conditions were not very critical to obtain high STH efficiency, indicating that the system could be robust and easily manufactured. The best-matched band gap of the CIGS was 1.19 eV and the highest STH efficiency of the CIGS driven WO3-based electrolyzers was 12.98 %.
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| 2. |
- Edoff, Marika, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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High Voc in (Cu,Ag)(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells
- 2017
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Ingår i: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. - 2156-3381 .- 2156-3403. ; 7:6, s. 1789-1794
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this contribution, we show that silver substitution for copper in Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) to form (Ag,Cu)(In, Ga)Se-2 (ACIGS) leads to a reduction of the voltage loss expressed as E-g/q-V-oc. This, in turn, leads to higher device efficiencies as compared to similar CIGS devices without Ag. We report V-oc at 814 mV at a conversion efficiency of 21% for our best ACIGS device with 20% of the group I element consisting of silver. Comparing ACIGS and CIGS devices with the same Ga/(Ga+ In) ratio, the ACIGS devices exhibit about 0.05 eV higher bandgap. Alkali postdeposition treatment with KF leads to improvements in efficiency both for CIGS and ACIGS, but we find that the dose of KF needed for optimum device for ACIGS is 10-20% of the dose used for CIGS.
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| 3. |
- Edoff, Marika, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Post Deposition Treatments of (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se-2 Thin Films for Solar Cells
- 2019
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Ingår i: 2019 IEEE 46th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC). - New York : IEEE. - 9781728104942 ; , s. 618-621
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Different alkali alternatives for post-deposition of ACIGS were tested, both conventional fluoride salts and in the form of metals. XPS analysis of surfaces treated with K or KF as well as Rb or RbF have been performed, before (only for K and Rb) and after an ammonia etch. In addition to a strong suppression of Cu and Ag near the surface, we observe a difference in the re-distribution of Ga in the surface region after the etch depending on pdt element. Our results are consistent with the formation of K-In-Se and Rb-In-Se compounds for both metal alkalis and alkali fluorides. We find a similar beneficial effect on cell performance for the best cells with the metals as with the fluoride salts.
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| 4. |
- Keller, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of KF absorber treatment on the functionality of different transparent conductive oxide layers in CIGSe solar cells
- 2018
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Ingår i: Progress in Photovoltaics. - : Wiley. - 1062-7995 .- 1099-159X. ; 26:1, s. 13-23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This contribution studies the impact of the KF-induced Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) absorber modification on the suitability of different transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers in solar cells. The TCO material was varied between ZnO:Al (AZO), ZnO:B (BZO), and In2O3:H (IOH). It is shown that the thermal stress needed for optimized TCO properties can establish a transport barrier for charge carriers, which results in severe losses in fill factor (FF) for temperatures >150°C. The FF losses are accompanied by a reduction in open circuit voltage (Voc) that might originate from a decreased apparent doping density (Nd,app) after annealing. Thermally activated redistributions of K and Na in the vicinity of the CdS/(Cu,K)-In-Se interface are suggested to be the reason for the observed degradation in solar cell performance. The highest efficiency was measured for a solar cell where the absorber surface modification was removed and a BZO TCO layer was deposited at a temperature of 165°C. The presented results highlight the importance of well-designed TCO and buffer layer processes for CIGSe solar cells when a KF post deposition treatment (KF-PDT) was applied.
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| 5. |
- Abou-Ras, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Innovation highway : Breakthrough milestones and key developments in chalcopyrite photovoltaics from a retrospective viewpoint
- 2017
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Ingår i: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier BV. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 633, s. 2-12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present contribution is a summary of an event that was organized as a special evening session in Symposium V "Chalcogenide Thin-Film Solar Cells" at the E-MRS 2016 Spring Meeting, Lille, France. The presentations in this session were given by the coauthors of this paper. These authors present retrospectives of key developments in the field of Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)(2) solar cells as they themselves had witnessed in their laboratories or companies. Also, anecdotes are brought up, which captured interesting circumstances in that evolutionary phase of the field. Because the focus was on historical perspectives rather than a comprehensive review of the field, recent developments intentionally were not addressed.
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| 6. |
- Bayrak Pehlivan, Ilknur, et al.
(författare)
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Optimum Band Gap Energy of ((Ag),Cu)(InGa)Se2 Materials for Combination with NiMo–NiO Catalysts for Thermally Integrated Solar-Driven Water Splitting Applications
- 2019
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solar-driven water splitting is considered one of the promising future routes to generate fuel in a sustainable way. A carbon-free solar fuel, molecular hydrogen, can here be produced along two different but intimately related routes, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting or photovoltaic electrolysis (PV-electrolysis), where the latter builds on well-established solar cell and electrolysis materials with high efficiency. The PV-electrolysis approach is also possible to construct from an integrated PEC/PV-system avoiding dc-dc converters and enabling heat exchange between the PV and electrolyzer part, to a conventionally wired PV-electrolysis system. In either case, the operating voltage at a certain current needs to be matched with the catalyst system in the electrolysis part. Here, we investigate ((Ag),Cu)(In,Ga)Se-2 ((A)CIGS)-materials with varying Ga-content modules for combination with NiMo-NiO catalysts in alkaline water splitting. The use of (A)CIGS is attractive because of the low cost-to-performance ratio and the possibility to optimize the performance of the system by tuning the band gap of (A)CIGS in contrast to Si technology. The band gap tuning is possible by changing the Ga/(Ga + In) ratio. Optoelectronic properties of the (A)CIGS materials with Ga/(Ga + In) ratios between 0.23 and 0.47 and the voltage and power output from the resulting water splitting modules are reported. Electrolysis is quantified at temperatures between 25 and 60 degrees C, an interval obtainable by varying the thermal heat exchange form a 1-sun illuminated PV module and an electrolyte system. The band gaps of the (A)CIGS thin films were between 1.08 to 1.25 eV and the three-cell module power conversion efficiencies (PCE) ranged from 16.44% with 1.08 eV band gap and 19.04% with 1.17 eV band gap. The highest solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency was 13.33% for the (A)CIGS-NiMo-NiO system with 17.97% module efficiency and electrolysis at 60 degrees C compared to a STH efficiency of 12.98% at 25 degrees C. The increase in STH efficiency with increasing temperature was more notable for lower band gaps as these are closer to the overpotential threshold for performing efficient solar-driven catalysis, while only a modest improvement can be obtained by utilizing thermal exchange for a band gap matched PV-catalysts system. The results show that usage of cost-effective and stable thin film PV materials and earth abundant catalysts can provide STH efficiencies beyond 13% even with PV modules with modest efficiency.
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| 7. |
- Donzel-Gargand, Olivier, et al.
(författare)
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Cu-depleted patches induced by presence of K during growth of CIGS absorbers
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The conversion efficiency of the CIGS thin film solar cells has rapidly increased since introduction of the heavier alkali-doping (K, Rb, Cs). While the exclusive introduction of Na in the CIGS films has led to efficiencies up to 20,4% 1, the latest K, Rb or Cs post deposition treatments (PDT) have increased the efficiency to 22,6% 2. The exact role of this heavy-alkali PDT is still under discussion but three explanations have been discussed in the literature. First, that the heavy alkali PDT facilitates CdCu substitution, that results in an enhanced absorber type inversion, moving the p-n junction further into the CIGS bulk 3. Second, that the main effect from heavy alkali PDT is due to the formation of a K-In-Se2 layer, that passivates defects at the CIGS surface, reducing interface recombination 4. And third, that the heavy alkali PDT induces a Cu depletion at the surface of the CIGS which, by increasing the local Fermi level, increases the band bending; thus creating a higher potential barrier for holes to recombine 5.
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| 8. |
- Donzel-Gargand, Olivier, et al.
(författare)
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Deep surface Cu depletion induced by K in high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell absorbers
- 2018
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Ingår i: Progress in Photovoltaics. - : Wiley. - 1062-7995 .- 1099-159X. ; 26:9, s. 730-739
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work, we used K‐rich glass substrates to provide potassium during the coevaporation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) absorber layers. Subsequently, we applied a postdeposition treatment (PDT) using KF or RbF to some of the grown absorbers. It was found that the presence of K during the growth of the CIGS layer led to cell effi- ciencies beyond 17%, and the addition of a PDT pushed it beyond 18%. The major finding of this work is the observation of discontinuous 100‐ to 200‐nm‐deep Cu‐ depleted patches in the vicinity of the CdS buffer layer, correlated with the presence of K during the growth of the absorber layer. The PDT had no influence on the forma- tion of these patches. A second finding concerns the composition of the Cu‐depleted areas, where an anticorrelation between Cu and both In and K was measured using scanning transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, a steeper Ga/(In+Ga) ratio gradient was measured for the absorbers grown with the presence of K, suggesting that K hinders the group III element interdiffusion. Finally, no Cd in‐diffusion to the CIGS layer could be detected. This indicates that if CdCu substitution occurs, either their concentration is below our instrumental detection limit or its presence is contained within the first 6 nm from the CdS/CIGS interface.
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| 9. |
- Donzel-Gargand, Olivier, et al.
(författare)
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Secondary phase formation and surface modification from a high dose KF-post deposition treatment of (Ag,Cu)(In,Ga)Se-2 solar cell absorbers
- 2019
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Ingår i: Progress in Photovoltaics. - : Wiley. - 1062-7995 .- 1099-159X. ; 27:3, s. 220-228
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we assessed the potential of KF-post deposition treatment (PDT) performed on a silver-alloyed Cu (In,Ga)Se-2 (ACIGS) solar absorber. ACIGS absorbers with Ag/Ag + Cu ratio (Ag/I) close to 20% were co-evaporated on a Mo-coated glass substrate and exposed to in-situ KF-PDT of various intensities. The current-voltage characteristics indicated that an optimized PDT can be beneficial, increasing in our study the median V-oc and efficiency values by +48 mV and + 0.9%(abs) (from 728 mV and 16.1% efficiency measured for the sample without PDT), respectively. However, an increased KF-flux during PDT resulted in a net deterioration of the performance leading to median V-oc and efficiency values as low as 503 mV and 4.7%. The chemical composition analysis showed that while the reference absorber without any post deposition treatment (PDT) was homogeneous, the KF-PDT induced a clear change within the first 10 nm from the surface. Here, the surface layer composition was richer in K and In with an increased Ag/I ratio, and its thickness seemed to follow the KF exposure intensity. Additionally, high-dose KF-PDT resulted in substantial formation of secondary phases for the ACIGS. The secondary phase precipitates were also richer in Ag, K, and In, and electron and X-ray diffraction data match with the monoclinic C 1 2/c 1 space group adopted by the Ag-alloyed KInSe2 phase. It could not be concluded whether the performance loss for the solar cell devices originated from the thicker surface layer or the presence of secondary phases, or both for the high-dose KF-PDT sample.
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| 10. |
- Keller, Jan, et al.
(författare)
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Atomic layer deposition of In2O3 transparent conductive oxide layers for application in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with different buffer layers
- 2016
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Ingår i: Physica Status Solidi (a) applications and materials science. - : Wiley. - 1862-6300 .- 1862-6319. ; 213:6, s. 1541-1552
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This contribution presents the development of atomic layer deposited (ALD) In2O3 films for utilization as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) solar cells. The effects of ALD process parameters on the morphology and growth of In2O3 are studied and related to the electrical and optical properties of the films. Maintaining similar resistivity values compared to commonly used ZnO:Al (AZO) TCOs (ρ = (5–7) × 10−4 Ωcm), a superior mobility of μ ≈ 110 cm2/Vs could be achieved (more than five times higher than a ZnO:Al reference), which results in a significantly reduced parasitic optical absorption in the infrared region. Application of the optimized In2O3 layers in CIGSe solar cells with varying buffer layers (CdS and Zn1–xSnxOy (ZTO)) leads to a distinct improvement in short circuit current density Jsc in both cases. While for solar cells containing the ZTO/In2O3 window structure, a drop in open-circuit voltage Voc and a deterioration under illumination is observed, the TCO exchange (from AZO to In2O3) on CdS buffer layers results in an increase in Voc without detectable light bias degradation. The efficiency η of the best corresponding solar cells could be improved by about 1% absolute.
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