Abstract
Recently, solution-processing became a viable route for depositing CdTe for use in photovoltaics. Ultrathin (∼500 nm) solar cells have been made using colloidal CdTe nanocrystals with efficiencies exceeding 12% power conversion efficiency (PCE) demonstrated by using very simple device stacks. Further progress requires an effective method for extracting charge carriers generated during light harvesting. Here, we explored solution-based methods for creating transparent Ohmic contacts to the solution-deposited CdTe absorber layer and demonstrated molecular and nanocrystal approaches to Ohmic hole-extracting contacts at the ITO/CdTe interface. We used scanning Kelvin probe microscopy to further show how the above approaches improved carrier collection by reducing the potential drop under reverse bias across the ITO/CdTe interface. Other methods, such as spin-coating CdTe/A2CdTe2 (A = Na, K, Cs, N2H5), can be used in conjunction with current/light soaking to improve PCE further.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 270-278 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | ACS Energy Letters |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 13 Jan 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 American Chemical Society.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/JA-5900-67544
Keywords
- CdTe
- nanocrystal solar cells
- ohmic contacts