Development and characterization of copper zinc tin sulfide czts thin films for solar cells applications tara p. Figure 3 shows tpv characteristics of the czts solar cell and estimated carrier lifetime plots. Thinfilm module manufacturer solar frontier claims to have broken the world record for czts cell efficiency, reaching 12. Dec 09, 2014 the device performance of czts based thin film solar cells has been steadily improving over the past 20 years, and they have now reached near commercial efficiency levels 10%. Growth of czts thin films for environmentally benign solar cells. Optimization of mocr bilayer back contacts for thinfilm. The cu target was subjected to dc power, and rf power was used for the sns and zns targets. These achievements prove that cztsbased solar cells have the potential to be used for largescale deployment of photovoltaics.
Pdf effect of czts parameters on photovoltaic solar cell from. The fabricated solar cell with s1 and s2 absorbers showed significant. Analysis of sns 2 buffer layer and sns back surface layer based czts solar cells using scaps atul kumar1,a and ajay d thakur1,2,b 1center for energy and environment, indian institute of technology patna, patna 8000, india. Solutionprocessed czts film is insitu synthesized on ito substrate compact czts thin film consists of about 1020 nm nanoparticles. It was confirmed that czts solar cells with high conversion efficiency existed in a relatively narrow composition region. In this paper, the fabrication method of cztsbased thin film solar cells in our laboratory was stated briefly and the influence of the composition ratio on the photovoltaic properties were presented. It is a wellknown fact that modern society consumes a lot of energy, and at a rapidly increasing pace. Phd position in thin films solar cells eures european.
In this work, we fabricated czts nanocrystal inks by a wet ball milling method, with the use of only nontoxic solvents, followed by filtration. Zinc tin oxide zto is a potential buffer layer for the czts photocathode as it has shown to be a good interface with czts and such czts zto solar cells have shown comparable efficiencies with the czts cds solar cells. By being able to deposit czts solar cells on various surfaces, haos team believe this puts them firmly on the road to making thinfilm photovoltaic cells that can be rigid or flexible, and. Cation substitution in cu 2 znsns 4 czts, in which zn can be replaced by a number of larger cations like fe, cd, mn, ba, and co. Czts also has near ideal properties for solar photovoltaics, as it is a very strong absorber and has a band gap of around 1. The exponential decay of the photovoltage with respect to time directly represents the faster. Fabrication of efficient cu2znsns4 solar cells by sputtering. In this study, an optimized bilayer structure made of a thin layer of mo on an ultrathin chromium cr adhesion layer is used as the back contact for a copper zinc tin sulfide czts thinfilm solar cell on a slg substrate. If you do not see its contents the file may be temporarily unavailable at the journal website or you do not have a pdf plugin installed and enabled in your browser. Czts thin films were fabricated through sputtering from a quaternary cuznsns target, followed by a sulfurization process. Since the report of a 10% efficient solar cell made from cu2znsns,se4 in 2010, interest in the field exploded and there. Properties of high efficiency cigs thinfilm solar cells.
We notice an improvement in conversion efficiency from 8. The influence of the composition ratio on cztsbased thin. May 28, 2015 beginners guide to kesterite czts solar cells life was comfortable back in 2007. For cdscztsse based solar cells, the results are represented in fig. Ibm has an active research department in this area and recently announced a czts based solar cell that had a conversion efficiency of 11. To reduce cost, vacuumfree manufacture process for each solar cell component is needed. Improvement of mocu2znsns4 interface for cu2znsns4 czts. Performance of cztsmapbi 3 solar cells remarkably depends on czts film thickness czts film thinner than 100 nm is a more effective htm in cztsmapbi 3 solar cells czts is better than pedot. The obtained results from znsczts based solar cells were displayed in figure 8 and summarized in table 4. Although the dark are degraded with respect to the cztsse cell see main text, ff of the cztsse cell despite its lower voc.
While starting to work on quaternary semiconductors for thinfilm solar cells, there was very little literature. Development and characterization of copper zinc tin. Cztsbased solar cells are currently much less efficient than cigs devises12. Appears in collections umtc undergraduate research presentations and papers urop 1541. A study of czts thin films for solar cell applications electronic resource responsibility vardaan chawla. David mitzi is an american scientist who has been working on czts solar cells since working at ibm. Influence of ag layer location on the performance of. Thin film solar cells a thin film of semiconductor is deposited by low cost methods. It is a wellknown fact that modern society consumes a lot of. Dec 11, 20 solar frontier announced on tuesday that it had set a new conversion efficiency record for czts solar cells measuring 0. The swansea team is now using raman mapping analysis to explore how to improve the performance of cztsbased solar cells.
Solutionprocessed cu2znsns4 nanoparticle film as efficient. Development of cztsbased thin film solar cells sciencedirect. Phd position in thin films solar cells eures european job. Characterization of a czts thin film solar cell grown by. Light shining on the solar cell produces both a current and a voltage to generate electric power. Impact of molybdenum out diffusion and interface quality on. It has been found that obvious zn loss occurs during the sputtering and poorly crystallized czts are formed in the sputtered films. An overview of solar cell technology stanford university. Pdf fabrication of cu2znsns4 czts nanoparticle inks. A small, prototype solar cell that uses czts, a photovoltaic semiconductor that university of utah metallurgists produced in an old microwave oven that once heated student lunches. Basic structure of czts solar cell the schematic structure of czts solar cell is shown in figure 2. An effective way to improve the efficiency of czts devices is cation substitution, which is the partial substitution of cu, zn and sn with other elements to alleviate efficiency losses. It is found that the performance of ch 3 nh 3 pbi 3 perovskite solar cells with czts film as hole transporting material htm strongly depends on czts thickness due to that its absorption of photons significantly limits the photontoelectron transfer below 550 nm, and the czts film thinner than 100 nm is a more effective htm for efficient.
This dissertation focus on novel and costeffective methods on solution processes of thin film solar cells, ranged from top transparent electrode, the various absorbing layers, and eventually achieving high performance devices. All constituents of this czts film, which are abundant in the crust of the earth, are nontoxic. Analysis of sns2 buffer layer and sns back surface layer. Apr 28, 2016 by being able to deposit czts solar cells on various surfaces, haos team believe this puts them firmly on the road to making thinfilm photovoltaic cells that can be rigid or flexible, and. Cu 2znsns 4 czts, having the kesterite structure, is one of the most promising absorber layer candidates for low cost thin film solar cells. In this final report highlights of the first three quarters will be provided and details will be given of the final quarter of the subcontract. This process requires firstly, a material in which the absorption of light raises an electron to a higher energy state. Westgatea,c acenter for autonomous solar power casp, sunybinghamton, vestal, ny, united states b systems science and industrial engineering, sunybinghamton, binghamton, ny, united states. Impact of excess and disordred sn sites on cu2znsns4 absorber. They have been recognized as a promising alternative to current solar cells because of their high absorption efficiency, direct band gap around 1. Photovoltaics may meet this need but current technologies are less than ideal requiring complex manufacturing processes andor use of toxic, rareearth materials.
Greenb and yexiang liua aschool of metallurgical science and engineering, central south university, changsha 410083, china. Czts, a quaternary compound semiconductor based on nontoxic and earth abundant elements cu 2znsns 4, with a band gap of 1. Czts 3 engineering sciences uppsala university, sweden. Pdf on jan 28, 2019, abdellah benami and others published effect of czts parameters on photovoltaic solar cell from numerical. This paper summerized the development situation of cu 2 znsns 4 thin film solar cells and the manufacturing technologies, as well as problems in the manufacturing process.
Impact of molybdenum out diffusion and interface quality. Cu2znsns4 czts quaternary compound has attracted much attention in the last years as new abundant, low cost and nontoxic material, with desirable properties for thin film photovoltaic pv applications. Cu2znsns4 czts is one of the most promising thin film solar cell absorber candidates owing to its natural earth abundance, direct band gap. Czts thinfilm solar cells were also fabricated and a highest efficiency of 4. The solar cell efficiency in czts was increased to 5. Cu2znsns4 czts, having the kesterite structure, is one of the most promising absorber layer candidates for low cost thin film solar cells, because of its suitable. Pss for stable and efficient inverted perovskite solar cells. Based on our proposed sulfurization process, the conversion efficiency of the czts solar cell was 5. Czts cells are thinfilm solar cells that work as a result of the photoelectric effect 4. For this case, we achieve high conversion efficiency up to 9.
If all of it was used to make solar cells, we could generate 0. These achievements prove that czts based solar cells have the potential to be used for largescale deployment of photovoltaics. Thin film solar cells using earthabundant materials. May 06, 20 a small, prototype solar cell that uses czts, a photovoltaic semiconductor that university of utah metallurgists produced in an old microwave oven that once heated student lunches. Figure s2 calculated coverage of sns phase at the interfaces of the czts solar cells the calculation was done according to imagej software, by assuming the dendrite structure as the complete platelike structure with a circular shape. The device performance of cztsbased thin film solar cells has been steadily improving over the past 20 years, and they have now reached near commercial efficiency levels 10%. Fabrication of cu2znsns4 czts nanoparticle inks for growth. An overview of solar cell technology mike mcgehee materials science and engineering global climate and energy projectglobal climate and energy project center for advanced molecular photovoltaics precourt institute stanford university konarka nanosolar john benner provided the slides with the nrel logo. Exploring cdfree buffer layer for czts photocathode for. As a reference, cztssolar cells were also manufactured in the same way as the passivated but without the passivation layer.
To further improve the performance of czts solar cells, intensive efforts should be committed to the development of the approaches for forming pure czts phase and the detection techniques of secondary phases formed during the deposition of the czts thin film. Tpv characteristics of solar cells with 550 nm thick czts l ayer sulphurized at 500 c are given in fig. Adhesion of mo film to sodalime glass slg substrate is crucial to the performance of solar cells. The obtained results from zns czts based solar cells were displayed in figure 8 and summarized in table 4. The most promising result is the compound cu 2 znsns 4 czts, which is now a recognized potential material for the absorber layer in photovoltaic applications. The low cost, environmental harmless cu 2 znsns 4 cztsbased thin film solar cells are fabricated by using abundant materials. Previous work on cu2znsns, se4 cztsse has shown that it is an excellent candidate for use in thin film solar cells due to its earth abundant, inexpensive, nontoxic constituents and optimal material properties. Czts thin film solar cells institute for materials. Aug 26, 2015 the commonly observed ptype conductivity of czts thin films comes mainly from the cuzn antisite defect, partly explaining why czts thin films must be cupoor and zinc rich to successfully fabricate czts solar cells. Czts film contains neither rare metals nor toxic materials, and combined with the cadmiumfree buffer layer, we can expect solar cells with complete nontoxicity. Characterization of a czts thin film solar cell grown by sputtering. Czts solar cells fabricated via cosputtering cuznssns.
Copper zinc tin sulfide cu2znsns4, czts solar cells offer a true green alternative based upon nontoxic and abundant elements. Three methods have been investigated including a thin ag coating, a thin zno coating on the mo back contact and rapid thermal annealing of the back contact. We report the performance of cu2znsns4 czts thin film solar cell that showed efficiency in the. The commonly observed ptype conductivity of czts thin films comes mainly from the cuzn antisite defect, partly explaining why czts thin films must be cupoor and zinc rich to successfully fabricate czts solar cells. The czts film possesses promising characteristic optical properties. At present, most preparation methods of czts are in fabricating alloy precursor under the conditions of heating or high temperature then heating and vulcanizing in a sulfur source environment. Growth of cztsbased monograins and their application to. A study of czts thin films for solar cell applications. However, progress in the efficiency of czts solar cells is hindered by a large voc deficit. In this work, czts thin films were grown using two different processes, based on vacuum deposition of precursors, followed by a heat treatment in sulphur atmosphere. Raman mapping analysis to improve czts solar cells solar. In this study, an optimized bilayer structure made of a thin layer of mo on an ultrathin chromium cr adhesion layer is used as the back contact for a copper zinc tin. Zinc tin oxide zto is a potential buffer layer for the czts photocathode as it has shown to be a good interface with czts and such cztszto solar cells have shown comparable efficiencies with the cztscds solar cells. Earth abundant cu 2 znsn sse 4 cztsse is considered to be one of the promising photoabsorber as well as holetransporting materials in the field of thin film solar cells 12.
It was possible to read all of the papers in the field. The focus of this work is on back contact improvement for sputtered czts thin film solar cells. Alternatively, you can download the file locally and open with any standalone pdf reader. May 26, 2014 all these factors have increased the industrialization costs of czts solar cells and limited the longterm development of czts solar cells. Each of the first three quarters of the subcontract has been detailed in quarterly reports. Czts thin film solar cells the science behind the research kesterite cu 2 znsns 4 czts materials have direct band gap energies ranging from 1. Socalled thinfilm solar panels, although less efficient per square meter, tend to be much cheaper to produce, and they are the technology being tapped to realize the worlds largest proposed pv plant, the rancho cielo solar farm in belen, n. Sintered czts nanoparticle solar cells on metal foil nrel. The benefits of czts include the abundant and inexpensive sup. We performed centrifugation to screen the asmilled czts and obtain nanocrystals. Development and characterization of copper zinc tin sulfide. Study of czts and cztsse solar cells for buffer layers. An overview of solar cell technology mike mcgehee materials science and engineering.
Fabrication of cu2znsns4 czts nanoparticle inks for. However, integrating czts with silicon is challenging due to siliconincompatible processing. Beyond 10% efficient cztsse thinfilm solar cells fabricated. Czts solar cell s and s elements individual and combined s. Cu 2 znsns 4 is considered as the ideal absorption layer material in next generation thin film solar cells due to the abundant component elements in the crust being nontoxic and environmentally friendly. Solar photovoltaic pv cells san jose state university. Supporting information nitridebased interfacial layers. Science of silicon pv cells scientific base for solar pv electric power generation is solidstate physics of semiconductors silicon is a popular candidate material for solar pv cells because.
Czts was first created in 1966 and was later shown to exhibit the photovoltaic effect in 1988. He is the most recognized scientist to hold several record efficiencies of czts solar cells including the latest achievement of a 12. The department of photonics engineering at the technical university of denmark dtu is seeking a candidate for a phd position on fabrication of absorber materials of cu2znsns4 and related materials by. Growth of czts thin films for environmentally benign solar. Properties of highefficiency cigs thinfilm solar cells kannan ramanathan, james keane, and rommel noufi national center for photovoltaics, national renewable energy laboratory, 1617 cole boulevard, golden co 80401. Fundamental properties of solar cells, principles and. A solar cell is an electronic device which directly converts sunlight into electricity. Cells can be flexible and integrated directly into roofing material. Cu2znsns4 czts is a promising candidate material for photovoltaic applications. Dec 10, 20 thinfilm module manufacturer solar frontier claims to have broken the world record for czts cell efficiency, reaching 12. Reid tobias1,2, michael hatzistergos2, neville sun3, richard sun3, and harry efstathiadis2. The ultrathin solar cells without the passivation layer were seen to have lower voltage and current, and therefore efficiency, than standard solar cells of cztstype with thicker layers. The department of photonics engineering at the technical university of denmark dtu is seeking a candidate for a phd position on fabrication of absorber materials of cu2znsns4 and related materials by vacuum processing for thin films solar cells. Solar frontier breaks czts cell efficiency record pv.
A study of czts thin films for solar cell applications electronic resource. Solar frontier announced on tuesday that it had set a new conversion efficiency record for czts solar cells measuring 0. Supporting information investigation of the snscu2znsns4. Processing of copper zinc tin sulfide nanocrystal dispersions.
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