Transparent Ohmic Contacts for Solution-Processed, Ultrathin CdTe Solar Cells

J. Matthew Kurley, Matthew G. Panthani, Ryan W. Crisp, Sanjini U. Nanayakkara, Gregory F. Pach, Matthew O. Reese, Margaret H. Hudson, Dmitriy S. Dolzhnikov, Vadim Tanygin, Joseph M. Luther, Dmitri V. Talapin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus Citations

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 languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)270-278
Number of pages9
JournalACS Energy Letters
Volume2
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 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

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