Materials challenges : inorganic photovoltaic solar energy

Title:

Series:

RSC energy and environment series ; no. 12

Publication Information:

Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015

Physical Description:

xii, 343 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

ISBN:

9781849731874

Subject Term:

Photovoltaic cells -- Materials

Photovoltaic power generation

Added Author:

Irvine, Stuart J. C.

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000010345009	TK2960 M38 2015	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown

This authoritative reference covers the various aspects of materials science that will impact on the next generation of photovoltaic (PV) module technology. The emphasis on materials brings a fresh perspective to the literature and highlights crucial issues. Special attention is given to thin film PV materials, an area that is growing more rapidly than crystalline silicon and could dominate in the long term. The book addresses the fundamental aspects of PV solar cell materials and gives a comprehensive description of each major thin film material, either in research or production. Particular weight is given to the key materials drivers of solar conversion efficiency, long term stability, materials costs, and materials sustainability.

Author Notes

Stuart Irvine has over thirty years experience in thin film semiconductor deposition and characterisation for opto-electronic devices. Executive Director for the UK research consortium (PV Supergen) and Director of the Centre for Solar Energy Research at OpTIC Technium. Prof Bagnall is based in the new ú120M Southampton Nanofabrication Centre in Electronics and Computer Science. He has spent over 20 years researching a range of semiconductor technologies. His current research focuses on the application of nanotechnology to thin film silicon photovoltaic devices. He is a member of Supergen PV21 and a member of the UK-ISES and PVSAT organising committees.

Stuart J. C. Irvine and Chiara CandeliseStuart J. C. Irvine and Vincent BarriozHari S. Reehal and Jeremy BallTimothy J. Courts and James M. Burst and Joel N. Duenow and Xiaonan Li and Timothy A. GessertAndrew J. Clayton and Vincent BarriozDavid W. Lane and Kyle J. Hutchings and Robert McCracken and Ian ForbesJames P. Connolly and Denis MencaragliaStuart A. Boden and Tristan L. TempleLefteris Danos and Thomas J. J. Meyer and Pattareeya Kittidachachan and Liping Fang and Thomas S. Parel and Nazila Soleimani and Tomas Markvart

Chapter 1 Introduction and Techno-economic Background	p. 1
1.1 Potential for PV Energy Generation as Part of a Renewable Energy Mix	p. 1
1.2 Historical Development of Thin Film PV	p. 3
1.3 The Role of Inorganic Thin Film PV in the Mix of PV Technologies	p. 6
1.4 Costs of Photovoltaics and Recent PV Industry Developments	p. 8
1.5 Role of Materials Cost and Efficiency in Cost of Thin Film PV	p. 13
1.6 Future Prospects for Cost Reduction and Thin Film PV	p. 19
1.7 Outline of Book and Context of Topics in Terms of Techno-economic Background	p. 20
References	p. 22
Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Thin Film PV Cells	p. 27
2.1 Introduction	p. 27
2.1.1 The Sun and Solar Energy	p. 28
2.1.2 History of Exploiting Solar Electricity	p. 29
2.2 Fundamentals of PV Materials	p. 30
2.2.1 Electrical Properties of Inorganic Materials	p. 30
2.2.2 Doping of Semiconductors	p. 31
2.2.3 Band Structure of Solar Absorbers	p. 32
2.3 The pn Junction	p. 37
2.3.1 Fundamentals of Absorption of Solar Radiation in a pn Device	p. 39
2.3.2 Electrical Behaviour of a PV Solar Cell	p. 40
2.3.3 Shockley-Queisser Limit	p. 42
2.3.4 3-G Solar Cells to Beat the Single Junction Limit	p. 44
2.4 Defects in Thin Film PV Materials	p. 46
2.4.1 Staebler-Wronski Effect	p. 47
2.4.2 Minority Carrier Lifetime and Junction Defects	p. 47
2.4.3 Lateral Non-uniformity of Thin Film PV Devices	p. 50
2.5 Conclusions	p. 50
Acknowledgements	p. 51
References	p. 51
Chapter 3 Crystalline Silicon Thin Film and Nanowire Solar Cells	p. 53
3.1 Introduction	p. 53
3.2 Planar Thin Film Crystalline Silicon Technology	p. 54
3.2.1 Crystallisation of Amorphous Silicon	p. 54
3.2.2 Seed Layer Approaches	p. 57
3.2.3 Lift-Off and Epitaxy Approaches	p. 64
3.2.4 Plasmonic Enhancement in Thin Crystalline Silicon Cells	p. 66
3.3 Silicon Nanowire Solar Cells	p. 69
3.3.1 SiNW Growth using the Vapour-Liquid-Solid Method	p. 70
3.3.2 Etched SiNWs and Solar Cells	p. 76
3.4 Conclusions	p. 81
References	p. 82
Chapter 4 A Review of NREL Research into Transparent Conducting Oxides	p. 89
4.1 Introduction	p. 89
4.2 Practical Challenges Facing TCOs	p. 91
4.2.1 Elemental Abundance and Cost	p. 91
4.2.2 Toxicity	p. 91
4.2.3 Ease of Deposition	p. 92
4.2.4 Stability	p. 92
4.2.5 Contacting	p. 92
4.3 Background Science	p. 93
4.3.1 The Transmission Window	p. 93
4.4 Binary Compounds	p. 95
4.4.1 ZnO	p. 95
4.4.2 In 2 O 3 -Based TCOs	p. 101
4.4.3 SnO 2	p. 106
4.4.4 CdO	p. 113
4.5 Ternary Compounds and Alloys	p. 115
4.5.1 Cadmium Stannate	p. 115
4.5.2 Zinc Stannate	p. 122
4.5.3 Zn x Mg 1-x O	p. 124
4.6 Summary	p. 127
Acknowledgements	p. 128
References	p. 129
Chapter 5 Thin Film Cadmium Telluride Solar Cells	p. 135
5.1 Introduction	p. 135
5.2 CdS n-type Window Layer	p. 137
5.2.1 Doped CdS	p. 138
5.2.2 High Resistive Transparent Layer	p. 138
5.2.3 Wide Bandgap Cd 1-x Zn x S Alloy Window Layer	p. 138
5.3 CdTe p-type Absorber Layer	p. 139
5.3.1 Doping CdTe	p. 140
5.4 CdCl 2 Activation Treatment	p. 141
5.4.1 Recrystallisation of CdTe Grains	p. 142
5.4.2 Inter-diffusion at the CdS-CdTe Interface	p. 142
5.4.3 Passivation of Grain Boundary Defects within CdTe	p. 143
5.5 Back Contact Formation	p. 144
5.5.1 Cu x Te	p. 145
5.5.2 ZnTe:Cu	p. 145
5.5.3 Ni-P	p. 146
5.5.4 Sb 2 Te 3	p. 146
5.5.5 CdTe:As'	p. 146
5.6 MOCVD CdTe Cells	p. 147
5.6.1 MOCVD Cd 1-x Zn x S vs. CdS Window Layer	p. 147
5.6.2 MOCVD CdTe:As Absorber and Contact Layer	p. 149
5.7 Prospects for Large-scale Manufacture using MOCVD	p. 152
5.8 Conclusions	p. 154
References	p. 155
Chapter 6 New Chalcogenide Materials for Thin Film Solar Cells	p. 160
6.1 Introduction and Background	p. 160
6.2 Investigating New Materials	p. 168
6.2.1 Conventional versus High Throughput Techniques	p. 168
6.2.2 One- and Two-dimensional Libraries	p. 169
6.2.3 Mapping Libraries	p. 173
6.2.4 Device Libraries	p. 181
6.3 CZTS and Cu 2 ZnSnS 4	p. 183
6.3.1 Growth of CZTS	p. 184
6.3.2 CZTS Device Structures and Efficiencies	p. 185
6.3.3 Composition and Formation of CZTS	p. 187
6.4 Sulfosalts	p. 190
6.4.1 Cu-Sb-(S,Se)	p. 193
6.4.2 Cu-Bi-S	p. 196
6.4.3 Sn-Sb-S	p. 198
6.5 Conclusions	p. 202
References	p. 203
Chapter 7 III-V Solar Cells	p. 209
7.1 Introduction	p. 209
7.2 Materials and Growth	p. 210
7.2.1 The III-V Semiconductors	p. 210
7.2.2 Growth Methods	p. 213
7.2.3 Heterogeneous Growth	p. 214
7.3 Design Concepts	p. 215
7.3.1 Light and Heat	p. 216
7.3.2 Charge Neutral Layers	p. 217
7.3.3 Space Charge Region	p. 219
7.3.4 Radiative Losses	p. 219
7.3.5 Resulting Analytical Model	p. 221
7.3.6 Single Junction Analyses	p. 223
7.3.7 Conclusions	p. 227
7.4 Multi-junction Solutions	p. 227
7.4.1 Theoretical Limits	p. 227
7.4.2 Material Limitations	p. 229
7.4.3 A Tandem Junction Example	p. 232
7.4.4 Record Efficiency Triple Junction	p. 235
7.4.5 Conclusions	p. 239
7.5 Remarks on Nanostructures	p. 240
7.6 Conclusions	p. 242
References	p. 243
Chapter 8 Light Capture	p. 247
8.1 Introduction	p. 247
8.2 The Need for Antireflection	p. 248
8.3 The Need for Light Trapping	p. 249
8.4 Mechanisms	p. 250
8.4.1 Antireflection	p. 250
8.4.2 Light Trapping	p. 251
8.5 Thin Film Antireflection Coatings	p. 253
8.5.1 Optical Considerations	p. 253
8.5.2 Surface Passivation	p. 257
8.5.3 Other Thin Film Considerations	p. 257
8.6 Micron-scale Texturing	p. 258
8.6.1 Alkali Etching: Pyramids and Grooves	p. 258
8.6.2 Acid Etching	p. 260
8.6.3 Dry Etching	p. 262
8.6.4 Ablation Techniques	p. 263
8.7 Submicron Texturing	p. 264
8.7.1 Subwavelength Array Theory	p. 265
8.7.2 Subwavelength Texturing Practical Realization	p. 267
8.8 Metal Nanoparticle Techniques	p. 273
8.8.1 Optical Properties of Metal Nanoparticles	p. 273
8.8.2 Fabrication of Metal Nanoparticles	p. 280
8.8.3 Integration of Metal Nanoparticles into Silicon Solar Cells	p. 283
8.9 Summary	p. 284
References	p. 285
Chapter 9 Photon Frequency Management Materials for Efficient Solar Energy Collection	p. 297
9.1 Introduction	p. 297
9.2 Fundamentals	p. 299
9.2.1 Introduction	p. 299
9.2.2 Re-absorption	p. 299
9.2.3 Photon Balance in the Collector	p. 302
9.3 Förster Resonance Energy Transfer	p. 303
9.3.1 Introduction	p. 303
9.3.2 Basic Theory	p. 304
9.3.3 Materials for Improved Photon Energy Collection	p. 306
9.3.4 Estimation of Quantum Yield	p. 306
9.3.5 Examples of Energy Transfer for Efficient Photon Management	p. 308
9.4 Luminescent Solar Collectors	p. 311
9.4.1 Introduction	p. 311
9.4.2 Spectroscopic Characterisation of LSCs	p. 314
9.4.3 LSC Examples	p. 316
9.5 Luminescence Down-Shifting (LDS)	p. 319
9.5.1 Introduction	p. 319
9.5.2 LDS Examples	p. 321
9.6 Advanced Photonic Concepts	p. 323
9.7 Conclusions	p. 327
Acknowledgements	p. 327
References	p. 328
Subject Index	p. 332

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