Fabrication and characterization of ZnO/Se_1−xTe_x solar cells

Abstract

Selenium (Se) element is a promising light-harvesting material for solar cells because of the large absorption coefficient and prominent photoconductivity. However, the efficiency of Se solar cells has been stagnated for a long time owing to the suboptimal bandgap (> 1.8 eV) and the lack of a proper electron transport layer. In this work, we tune the bandgap of the absorber to the optimal value of Shockley–Queisser limit (1.36 eV) by alloying 30% Te with 70% Se. Simultaneously, ZnO electron transport layer is selected because of the proper band alignment, and the mild reaction at ZnO/Se_0.7Te_0.3 interface guarantees a good-quality heterojunction. Finally, a superior efficiency of 1.85% is achieved on ZnO/Se_0.7Te_0.3 solar cells.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Se _{1− x}Te _x alloy / ZnO electron transport layer / Recombination mechanism / Solar cells

References

[1] Fritts, C.E.: On a new form of selenium cell, and some electrical discoveries made by its use. Am. J. Sci. 26(156), 465–472 (1883)

[2] Bhatnagar, A.K., Reddy, K.V., Srivastava, V.: Optical energy gap of amorphous selenium: effect of annealing. J. Appl. Phys. 18(9), 149 (1985)

[3] Tutihasi, S., Chen, I.: Optical properties and band structure of trigonal selenium. Phys. Rev. 158(3), 623–630 (1967)

[4] Dowd, J.J.: Optical properties of selenium. Proc. Phys. Soc. B 64(9), 783–789 (1951)

[5] Hegedus, S.S., Shafarman, W.N.: Thin-film solar cells: device measurements and analysis. Prog. Photovolt. Res. Appl. 12(23), 155–176 (2004)

[6] Rau, U., Werner, J.H.: Radiative efficiency limits of solar cells with lateral band-gap fluctuations. Appl. Phys. Lett. 84(19), 3735–3737 (2004)

[7] Nakamura, M., Yamaguchi, K., Kimoto, Y., Yasaki, Y., Kato, T., Sugimoto, H.: Cd-free Cu(In, Ga)(Se, S)₂ thin-film solar cell with record efficiency of 23.35%. IEEE Int. J. Photovolt. 9(6), 1863–1867 (2019)

[8] Yoo, J.J., Seo, G., Chua, M.R., Park, T.G., Lu, Y., Rotermund, F., Kim, Y.K., Moon, C.S., Jeon, N.J., Correa-Baena, J.P., Bulović V., Shin, S.S., Bawendi, M.G., Seo, J.: Efficient perovskite solar cells via improved carrier management. Nature 590(7847), 587–593 (2021)

[9] Yang, G., Zhang, H., Li, S., Ren, Z., Fang, G., Lei, D., Li, G.: Enhanced efficiency and stability of triple-cation perovskite solar cells with CsPbI_xBr_3–x QDs „surface patches”. SmartMat 3(3), 513–521 (2022)

[10] Liu, Y., Dong, B., Hagfeldt, A., Luo, J., Graetzel, M.: Chemically tailored molecular surface modifiers for efficient and stable perovskite photovoltaics. SmartMat 2(1), 33–37 (2021)

[11] Romeo, A., Artegiani, E.: CdTe-based thin film solar cells: past, present and future. Energies 14(6), 1684 (2021)

[12] Brooks, L.S.: The vapor pressures of tellurium and selenium. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 74(1), 227–229 (1952)

[13] Ito, H., Oka, M., Ogino, T., Takeda, A., Mizushima, Y.: Selenium thin-film solar cell. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 23(Part 1, No. 6), 719–725 (1984)

[14] Nakada, T., Kunioka, A.: Efficient ITO/Se heterojunction solar cells. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 23(Part 2, No. 8), 587 (1984)

[15] Nakada, T., Kunioka, A.: Polycrystalline thin-film TiO₂/Se solar cells. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 24(Part 2, No. 7), 536 (1985)

[16] Nguyen, D.C., Tanaka, S., Nishino, H., Manabe, K., Ito, S.: 3-D solar cells by electrochemical-deposited Se layer as extremely-thin absorber and hole conducting layer on nanocrystalline TiO₂ electrode. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 8(1), 8 (2013)

[17] Todorov, T.K., Singh, S., Bishop, D.M., Gunawan, O., Lee, Y.S., Gershon, T.S., Brew, K.W., Antunez, P.D., Haight, R.: Ultrathin high band gap solar cells with improved efficiencies from the world’s oldest photovoltaic material. Nat. Commun. 8(1), 682 (2017)

[18] Tennakone, K., Kumara, G., Kottegoda, I., Perera, V., Aponsu, G.: Nanoporous n-/selenium/p-CuCNS photovoltaic cell. J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 31(18), 2326–2330 (1998)

[19] Wang, K., Shi, Y., Zhang, H., Xing, Y., Dong, Q., Ma, T.: Selenium as a photoabsorber for inorganic-organic hybrid solar cells. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16(42), 23316–23319 (2014)

[20] Zhu, M., Hao, F., Ma, L., Song, T.B., Miller, C.E., Wasielewski, C.E., Li, X., Kanatzidis, M.G.: Solution-processed air-stable mesoscopic selenium solar cells. ACS Energy Lett. 1(2), 469–473 (2016)

[21] Green, M.A.: The path to 25% silicon solar cell efficiency: history of silicon cell evolution. Prog. Photovolt. Res. Appl. 17(3), 183–189 (2009)

[22] Green, M.A., Blakers, A.W., Shi, J., Keller, E.M., Wenham, S.R.: 19.1% efficient silicon solar cell. Appl. Phys. Lett. 44(12), 1163–1164 (1984)

[23] Anzin, V.B., Eremets, M.I., Kosichkin, Y.V., Nadezhdinskii, A.I., Shirokov, A.M.: Measurement of the energy gap in tellurium under pressure. Phys. Status Solidi A Appl. Res. 42(1), 385–390 (1977)

[24] Asendorf, R.: Space group of tellurium and selenium. J. Chem. Phys. 27(1), 11–16 (1957)

[25] Yang, P., Zha, J., Gao, G., Zheng, L., Huang, H., Xia, Y., Xu, S., Xiong, T., Zhang, Z., Yang, Z.: Growth of tellurium nanobelts on h-BN for p-type transistors with ultrahigh hole mobility. Nano-Micro Lett. 14(1), 1–12 (2022)

[26] Lin, Z., Wang, C., Chai, Y.: Emerging group-VI elemental 2D materials: preparations, properties, and device applications. Small 16(41), 2003319 (2020)

[27] Jiang, J., Meng, F., Cheng, Q., Wang, A., Chen, Y., Qiao, J., Pang, J., Xu, W., Ji, H., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Q., Wang, S., Feng, X., Gu, L., Liu, H., Han, L.: Low lattice mismatch InSe–Se vertical Van der Waals heterostructure for high-performance transistors via strong Fermi-level depinning. Small Methods 4(8), 2000238 (2020)

[28] Zhang, S., Pang, J., Cheng, Q., Yang, F., Chen, Y., Liu, Y., Li, Y., Gemming, T., Liu, X., Ibarlucea, B., Yang, J., Liu, H., Zhou, W., Cuniberti, G., Rümmeli, M.H.: High-performance electronics and optoelectronics of monolayer tungsten diselenide full film from pre-seeding strategy. InfoMat 3(12), 1455–1469 (2021)

[29] Wang, Y., Pang, J., Cheng, Q., Han, L., Li, Y., Meng, X., Ibarlucea, B., Zhao, H., Yang, F., Liu, H.: Applications of 2D-layered palladium diselenide and its van der Waals heterostructures in electronics and optoelectronics. Nano-Micro Lett. 13(1), 1–52 (2021)

[30] Hadar, I., Hu, X., Luo, Z., Dravid, V.P., Kanatzidis, M.G.: Nonlinear band gap tunability in selenium–tellurium alloys and its utilization in solar cells. ACS Energy Lett. 4(9), 2137–2143 (2019)

[31] Tan, C., Amani, M., Zhao, C., Hettick, M., Song, X., Lien, D.H., Li, H., Yeh, M., Shrestha, V.R., Crozier, K.B., Scott, M.C., Javey, A.: Evaporated Se_xTe_1−x thin films with tunable bandgaps for short-wave infrared photodetectors. Adv. Mater. 32(38), 2001329 (2020)

[32] Cui, S., Chahal, R., Boussard-Plédel, C., Nazabal, V., Doualan, J.L., Troles, J., Lucas, J., Bureau, B.: From selenium- to telluriumbased glass optical fibers for infrared spectroscopies. Molecules 18(5), 5373–5388 (2013)

[33] Jayah, N.A., Yahaya, H., Mahmood, M.R., Terasako, T., Yasui, K., Hashim, A.M.: High electron mobility and low carrier concentration of hydrothermally grown ZnO thin films on seeded a-plane sapphire at low temperature. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 10(1), 7 (2015)

[34] Ting, H., Ni, L., Ma, S., Ma, Y., Xiao, L., Chen, Z.: Progress in electron-transport materials in application of perovskite solar cells. Acta Phys. Sin. 64(3), 038802 (2015)

[35] Jauncey, G.E.M.: The scattering of X-rays and Bragg’s law. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10(2), 57–60 (1924)

[36] Tauc, J.: Absorption edge and internal electric fields in amorphous semiconductors. Mater. Res. Bull. 5(8), 721–729 (1970)

[37] Denton, A.R., Ashcroft, N.W.: Vegard’s law. Phys. Rev. A 43(6), 3161–3164 (1991)

[38] Carson, E.M., Watson, J.R.: Undergraduate students’ understandings of entropy and Gibbs free energy. U. Chem. Ed. 6, 4–12 (2002)

[39] Dean, J.A.: Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry. McGraw-Hill, New York (1999)

[40] Olin, A., Olang, B.N., Osadchii, E.G., Ohman, L.O., Rosen, E.: Chemical Thermodynamics of Selenium, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, France (2005)

[41] Scheer, R., Schock, H.W.: Chalcogenide Photovoltaics: Physics, Technologies, and Thin Film Devices. Wiley-VCH, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (2011)

[42] Parr, R.G.: Density functional theory. Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 34(1), 631–656 (1983)

[43] Li, M., Chen, S., Zhao, X., Xiong, K., Wang, B., Shah, U.A., Gao, L., Lan, X.Z., Zhang, J.B., Hsu, H.Y., Tang, J., Song, H.: Matching charge extraction contact for infrared PbS colloidal quantum dot solar cells. Small 18(1), 2105495 (2022)

[44] Chen, W., Zhang, N., Zhang, M.Y., Zhang, X.T., Gao, H., Wen, J.: Controllable growth of ZnO–ZnSe heterostructures for visiblelight photocatalysis. CrystEngComm 16(6), 1201–1206 (2014)

[45] Gokmen, T., Gunawan, O., Mitzi, D.B.: Minority carrier diffusion length extraction in Cu₂ZnSn(Se, S)₄ solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 114(11), 114511 (2013)

[46] Sites, J.R., Mauk, P.H.: Diode quality factor determination for thin-film solar cells. Solar cells 27(1), 411-417 (1989)

[47] Sites, J.R.: Quantification of losses in thin-film polycrystalline solar cells. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 75(1–2), 243–251 (2003)

[48] Liu, Y., Wu, W., Goddard, W.A., 3rd.: Tellurium: fast electrical and atomic transport along the weak interaction direction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140(2), 550–553 (2018)

[49] Cao, Y., Zhu, X., Tong, X., Zhou, J., Ni, J., Zhang, J., Pang, J.: Ultrathin microcrystalline hydrogenated Si/Ge alloyed tandem solar cells towards full solar spectrum conversion. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 14(6), 997–1005 (2020)

[50] Liao, W., Zhao, D., Yu, Y., Grice, C.R., Wang, C., Cimaroli, A.J., Schulz, P., Meng, W., Zhu, K., Xiong, R.G., Yan, Y.: Lead-free inverted planar formamidinium tin triiodide perovskite solar cells achieving power conversion efficiencies up to 6.22. Adv. Mater. 28(42), 9333–9340 (2016)

[51] Shockley, W., Queisser, H.: Detailed balance limit of efficiency of p-n junction solar cells. J. Appl. Phys. 32(3), 510–519 (1961)

[52] Abou-Ras, D., Kirchartz, T., Rau, U.: Advanced Characterization Techniques for Thin Film Solar Cells. Wiley-VCH, Germany (2016)

[53] Proskuryakov, Y.Y., Durose, K., Taele, B.M., Welch, G.P., Oelting, S.: Admittance spectroscopy of CdTe∕CdS solar cells subjected to varied nitric-phosphoric etching conditions. J. Appl. Phys. 101(1), 014505 (2007)

[54] Seto, J.Y.W.: The electrical properties of polycrystalline silicon films. J. Appl. Phys. 46(12), 5247–5254 (1975)

[55] Walter, T., Herberholz, R., Müller, C., Schock, H.W.: Determination of defect distributions from admittance measurements and application to Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ based heterojunctions. J. Appl. Phys. 80(8), 4411–4420 (1996)

[56] McCandless, B.E., Buchanan, W.A., Thompson, C.P., Sriramagiri, G., Lovelett, R.J., Duenow, J., Albin, D., Jensen, S., Colegrove, E., Moseley, J., Moutinho, H., Harvey, S., Al-Jassim, M., Metzger, W.K.: Overcoming carrier concentration limits in polycrystalline CdTe thin films with in situ doping. Sci. Rep. 8(1), 14519 (2018)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2022