Journal
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
Volume 11, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202003743
Keywords
chalcogenides; chalcopyrites; CIGS; Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)(2); non-vacuum deposition; solution-processing
Categories
Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [RGPIN-2019-05489, DGECR-2019-00450]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Photovoltaic technologies provide a sustainable solution to increasing energy demands, with chalcopyrite thin-film solar cells exhibiting high efficiency but typically fabricated using vacuum deposition methods. Research is shifting towards solution processing techniques to improve material usage, increase throughput, and lower commercialization barriers, but performance of current devices falls short of vacuum-processed counterparts.
Photovoltaic technologies offer a sustainable solution to the challenge of meeting increasing energy demands. Chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)(2), short CIGS-thin-film solar cells-having intrinsically p-type absorbers with a tunable direct bandgap-exhibits one of the highest stabilized power conversion efficiencies of 23.35%, utilizing absorbers typically fabricated via vacuum deposition methods. Research is increasingly devoted to absorbers deposited by solution processing techniques, which may inherently improve material usage, increase throughput, and lower financial barriers to commercialization. However, the performance of current devices with solution-processed absorbers is still falling short of their vacuum-processed counterparts with record power conversion efficiencies up to 18.7% reported to date. While hydrazine solvent-based routes offer reduced residual impurities, their toxicity poses hindrances to widespread adoption. Alternatively, less toxic and environmentally friendly routes based on protic and aprotic solvents are being researched and are showing promising device efficiencies well above 14%. This review describes the current status of CIGS solar cell absorber layers fabricated by pure solution-based deposition methods, provides a comparison of champion solution-processed devices (with and without hydrazine), and offers an outlook for future improvements.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available