• Energy Research

Abstract Thermochromic (TC) vanadium dioxide thin films provide means for controlling solar energy throughput and can be used for energy-saving applications such as smart windows. One of the factors limiting the deployment of VO 2 films in TC devices is the growth temperature τ s . At present, temperatures in excess of 450 °C are required, which clearly can be an impediment especially for temperature-sensitive substrates. Here we address the issue of high τ s by synthesizing VO 2 thin films from highly ionized fluxes of depositing species generated in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharges. The use of ions facilitates low-temperature film growth because the energy of the depositing species can be readily manipulated by substrate bias. For comparison, films were also synthesized by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering. Structural and optical characterization of VO 2 thin films on ITO-coated glass substrates confirms previous results that HiPIMS allows τ s to be reduced from ~500 to ~300 °C. Importantly, we demonstrated that HiPIMS permits the composition and TC response of the films to be tuned by altering the energy of the deposition flux via substrate bias. An optimum ion energy of 100 eV was identified, which points at a potential for further reduction of τ s thereby opening new possibilities for industrially-relevant applications of VO 2 -based TC thin films. Weak TC activity was observed even at τ s ≈200 °C in HiPIMS-produced films.

The quaternary semiconductor Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a possible In-free replacement for Cu(In,Ga)Se-2. Here we present reactive sputtering with the possibility to obtain homogeneous CZTS-precursors wit ...

Abstract We review the present state-of-the-art within back and front contacts in kesterite thin film solar cells, as well as the current challenges. At the back contact, molybdenum (Mo) is generally used, and thick Mo(S, Se)2 films of up to several hundred nanometers are seen in record devices, in particular for selenium-rich kesterite. The electrical properties of Mo(S, Se)2 can vary strongly depending on orientation and indiffusion of elements from the device stack, and there are indications that the back contact properties are less ideal in the sulfide as compared to the selenide case. However, the electronic interface structure of this contact is generally not well-studied and thus poorly understood, and more measurements are needed for a conclusive statement. Transparent back contacts is a relatively new topic attracting attention as crucial component in bifacial and multijunction solar cells. Front illuminated efficiencies of up to 6% have so far been achieved by adding interlayers that are not always fully transparent. For the front contact, a favorable energy level alignment at the kesterite/CdS interface can be confirmed for kesterite absorbers with an intermediate [S]/([S]+[Se]) composition. This agrees with the fact that kesterite absorbers of this composition reach highest efficiencies when CdS buffer layers are employed, while alternative buffer materials with larger band gap, such as Cd1−x Zn x S or Zn1−x Sn x O y , result in higher efficiencies than devices with CdS buffers when sulfur-rich kesterite absorbers are used. Etching of the kesterite absorber surface, and annealing in air or inert atmosphere before or after buffer layer deposition, has shown strong impact on device performance. Heterojunction annealing to promote interdiffusion was used for the highest performing sulfide kesterite device and air-annealing was reported important for selenium-rich record solar cells.

ABSTRACTCu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a promising thin‐film absorber material that presents some interesting challenges in fabrication when compared with Cu(In,Ga)Se2. We introduce a two‐step process for fabrication of CZTS films, involving reactive sputtering of a Cu‐Zn‐Sn‐S precursor followed by rapid annealing. X‐ray diffraction and Raman measurements of the sputtered precursor suggest that it is in a disordered, metastable CZTS phase, similar to the high‐temperature cubic modification reported for CZTS. A few minutes of annealing at 550 °C are sufficient to produce crystalline CZTS films with grain sizes in the micrometer range. The first reported device using this approach has an AM1.5 efficiency of 4.6%, with Jsc and Voc both appearing to be limited by interface recombination. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

First demonstration of a solid-state p–n tandem dye-sensitized solar cell (t-DSC) shows a substantial open-circuit voltage which holds great promise for a wide range of applications, particularly in the fields of photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical devices.

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films are made using sulfurisation of co-sputtered metallic and sulfur-containing precursor films. The CZTS grain size is larger for metallic precursors than for sulfur-containing precursors while more uniform films with fewer voids are obtained in the latter case. During sulfurisation of precursors with tin-excess in closed quartz ampoules, tin is lost from the films with greater losses from metallic precursors. We suggest that the reduced grain size and the reduced tin-loss for sulfur-containing precursors can be explained by a larger number of CZTS nuclei being formed early in the sulfurisation process. In sulfur containing precursors with large tin excess, SnS2 is observed together with CZTS, and a tin-rich bottom layer segregates. This indicates that tin-diffusion in CZTS is relatively slow. Solar cell devices made for a range of compositions at and around stoichiometric CZTS show highest efficiencies in two compositional groups; Zn-rich and Cu-poor/Sn-rich, while close to stoichiometric material gives poor devices. Devices including the tin-rich bottom layer show efficiencies of up to 3.2%. The role of secondary phases such as ZnS and SnS2 on device performance is discussed.