Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

Jun Liu; Steven Johnston; Steven Harvey; David Albin; Peter Hacke; Mowafak Al-Jassim

doi:10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094

Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

Jun Liu, Steven Johnston, Steven Harvey, David Albin, Peter Hacke, Mowafak Al-Jassim

Materials Science

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

4 Scopus Citations

Abstract

In this work, we used transmission electron microscopy in a structural and chemical study on CdTe thin-film solar cells with different degradation degrees from the same photovoltaic module. We found that in the most-degraded CdTe solar cell, the accumulation of Na is precisely localized in the discontinuous part of the CdS layer. The local concentration of Na is determined to be \sim18 at.%. This could be the root-cause degradation mechanism in CdTe thin-film solar cells. In addition, the notable accumulation of Na at the TCO/SLG interface could be responsible for the delamination of the TCO layer from the SLG substrate.

Original language	American English
Pages	3281-3284
Number of pages	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094 https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094
State	Published - 26 Nov 2018
Event	7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018 - Waikoloa Village, United States Duration: 10 Jun 2018 → 15 Jun 2018

Conference

Conference	7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018
Country/Territory	United States
City	Waikoloa Village
Period	10/06/18 → 15/06/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.

NREL Publication Number

NREL/CP-5K00-70823

Keywords

CdTe
energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry
Na migration
Transmission electron microscopy

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Liu, J., Johnston, S., Harvey, S., Albin, D., Hacke, P., & Al-Jassim, M. (2018). Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells. 3281-3284. Paper presented at 7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018, Waikoloa Village, United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094, https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094

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abstract = "In this work, we used transmission electron microscopy in a structural and chemical study on CdTe thin-film solar cells with different degradation degrees from the same photovoltaic module. We found that in the most-degraded CdTe solar cell, the accumulation of Na is precisely localized in the discontinuous part of the CdS layer. The local concentration of Na is determined to be \sim18 at.%. This could be the root-cause degradation mechanism in CdTe thin-film solar cells. In addition, the notable accumulation of Na at the TCO/SLG interface could be responsible for the delamination of the TCO layer from the SLG substrate.",

keywords = "CdTe, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, Na migration, Transmission electron microscopy",

author = "Jun Liu and Steven Johnston and Steven Harvey and David Albin and Peter Hacke and Mowafak Al-Jassim",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 IEEE.; 7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018 ; Conference date: 10-06-2018 Through 15-06-2018",

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Liu, J, Johnston, S , Harvey, S, Albin, D, Hacke, P & Al-Jassim, M 2018, 'Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells', Paper presented at 7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018, Waikoloa Village, United States, 10/06/18 - 15/06/18 pp. 3281-3284. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094, https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548094

TY - CONF

T1 - Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

AU - Liu, Jun

AU - Johnston, Steven

AU - Harvey, Steven

AU - Albin, David

AU - Hacke, Peter

AU - Al-Jassim, Mowafak

PY - 2018/11/26

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N2 - In this work, we used transmission electron microscopy in a structural and chemical study on CdTe thin-film solar cells with different degradation degrees from the same photovoltaic module. We found that in the most-degraded CdTe solar cell, the accumulation of Na is precisely localized in the discontinuous part of the CdS layer. The local concentration of Na is determined to be \sim18 at.%. This could be the root-cause degradation mechanism in CdTe thin-film solar cells. In addition, the notable accumulation of Na at the TCO/SLG interface could be responsible for the delamination of the TCO layer from the SLG substrate.

AB - In this work, we used transmission electron microscopy in a structural and chemical study on CdTe thin-film solar cells with different degradation degrees from the same photovoltaic module. We found that in the most-degraded CdTe solar cell, the accumulation of Na is precisely localized in the discontinuous part of the CdS layer. The local concentration of Na is determined to be \sim18 at.%. This could be the root-cause degradation mechanism in CdTe thin-film solar cells. In addition, the notable accumulation of Na at the TCO/SLG interface could be responsible for the delamination of the TCO layer from the SLG substrate.

KW - CdTe

KW - energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry

KW - Na migration

KW - Transmission electron microscopy

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T2 - 7th IEEE World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018

Y2 - 10 June 2018 through 15 June 2018

ER -

Transmission Electron Microscopy Study on Degradation Mechanism of CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

Abstract

Conference

Bibliographical note

NREL Publication Number

Keywords

Access to Document

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