Laser-Annealing and Solid-Phase Epitaxy of Selenium Thin-Film Solar Cells

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Nielsen, Rasmus, Hemmingsen, Tobias H., Bonczyk, Tobias G., Hansen, Ole, Chorkendorff, Ib, Vesborg, Peter C. K.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Nielsen, Rasmus
Hemmingsen, Tobias H.
Bonczyk, Tobias G.
Hansen, Ole
Chorkendorff, Ib
Vesborg, Peter C. K.
author_facet Nielsen, Rasmus
Hemmingsen, Tobias H.
Bonczyk, Tobias G.
Hansen, Ole
Chorkendorff, Ib
Vesborg, Peter C. K.
contents Selenium has resurged as a promising photovoltaic material in solar cell research due to its wide direct bandgap of 1.95 eV, making it a suitable candidate for a top cell in tandem photovoltaic devices. However, the optoelectronic quality of selenium thin-films has been identified as a key bottleneck for realizing high-efficiency selenium solar cells. In this study, we present a novel approach for crystallizing selenium thin-films using laser-annealing as an alternative to the conventionally used thermal annealing strategy. By laser-annealing through a semitransparent substrate, a buried layer of high-quality selenium crystallites is formed and used as a growth template for solid-phase epitaxy. The resulting selenium thin-films feature larger and more preferentially oriented grains with a negligible surface roughness in comparison to thermally annealed selenium thin-films. We fabricate photovoltaic devices using this strategy, and demonstrate a record ideality factor of n=1.37, a record fill factor of FF=63.7%, and a power conversion efficiency of PCE=5.0%. The presented laser-annealing strategy is universally applicable and is a promising approach for crystallizing a wide range of photovoltaic materials where high temperatures are needed while maintaining a low substrate temperature.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_11311
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Laser-Annealing and Solid-Phase Epitaxy of Selenium Thin-Film Solar Cells
Nielsen, Rasmus
Hemmingsen, Tobias H.
Bonczyk, Tobias G.
Hansen, Ole
Chorkendorff, Ib
Vesborg, Peter C. K.
Materials Science
Applied Physics
Selenium has resurged as a promising photovoltaic material in solar cell research due to its wide direct bandgap of 1.95 eV, making it a suitable candidate for a top cell in tandem photovoltaic devices. However, the optoelectronic quality of selenium thin-films has been identified as a key bottleneck for realizing high-efficiency selenium solar cells. In this study, we present a novel approach for crystallizing selenium thin-films using laser-annealing as an alternative to the conventionally used thermal annealing strategy. By laser-annealing through a semitransparent substrate, a buried layer of high-quality selenium crystallites is formed and used as a growth template for solid-phase epitaxy. The resulting selenium thin-films feature larger and more preferentially oriented grains with a negligible surface roughness in comparison to thermally annealed selenium thin-films. We fabricate photovoltaic devices using this strategy, and demonstrate a record ideality factor of n=1.37, a record fill factor of FF=63.7%, and a power conversion efficiency of PCE=5.0%. The presented laser-annealing strategy is universally applicable and is a promising approach for crystallizing a wide range of photovoltaic materials where high temperatures are needed while maintaining a low substrate temperature.
title Laser-Annealing and Solid-Phase Epitaxy of Selenium Thin-Film Solar Cells
topic Materials Science
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.11311