Characterization of a czts thin film solar cell grown by. Ibm has an active research department in this area and recently announced a czts based solar cell that had a conversion efficiency of 11. Czts also has near ideal properties for solar photovoltaics, as it is a very strong absorber and has a band gap of around 1. Empirically it is observed that the highest performing solar cells are cupoor and znrich. Development of cztsbased thin film solar cells sciencedirect.
By tuning the composition of the czts nanocrystals and developing a robust. Copper zinc tin sulfide czts is a quaternary semiconducting compound which has received increasing interest since the late 2000s for applications in thin film solar cells. May 28, 2015 beginners guide to kesterite czts solar cells life was comfortable back in 2007. In this paper, the fabrication method of czts based thin film solar cells in our laboratory was stated briefly and the influence of the composition ratio on the photovoltaic properties were presented. Czts is an excellent ptype absorber because of its high absorption coefficient and its ideal band gap of 1. Czts thin film solar cells the science behind the research kesterite cu 2 znsns 4 czts materials have direct band gap energies ranging from 1.
Apr 01, 2020 the common single junction silicon solar cell can produce a maximum opencircuit voltage of approximately 0. To explore the possibility of cu2znsns4 cztssi based tandem solar cells, the. For further improvement, a deeper insight in the defect structure and fundamental material properties of czts is crucial. Unsw takes out czts efficiency world record pv magazine. Lowcost fabrication of cu 2 znsns 4 thin films for solar. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. The low cost, environmental harmless cu 2 znsns 4 cztsbased thin film solar cells are fabricated by using abundant materials. It has been found that obvious zn loss occurs during the sputtering and poorly crystallized czts are formed in the sputtered films.
Defect characterization of cu2znsnse4 thin film solar cells using. Czts samples produced from stacked evaporated precursors allowed achieving a maximum efficiency of 3. Socalled thinfilm solar panels, although less efficient per square meter, tend to be much cheaper to produce, and they are the technology being tapped to realize the worlds largest proposed pv plant, the rancho cielo solar farm in belen, n. Solar frontier breaks czts cell efficiency record pv. Siliconwafer cells have light absorbing layers up to 350 m thick, while thinfilm solar cells have a very thin light absorbing layers, generally of the order of 1 m thickness. It is a compound whose intrinsic point defects lead to ptype semiconductor behaviour. Mar 21, 2012 cdte solar cells represent about half and the rest is divided between thin film silicon and cuin,gase 2 where the latter is increasing rapidly. Czts thinfilm solar cells were also fabricated and a highest efficiency of 4.
Experimental study of cu2znsns4 thin films for solar cells hendrik flammersberger cu2znsns4 czts is a semiconductor with a direct band gap of about 1,5 ev and an absorption coefficient of 104 cm1, and is for this reason a potential thin film solar cell material. The obtained results from zns czts based solar cells were displayed in figure 8 and summarized in table 4. Fabrication of thin film czts solar cells with pulsed. At present, most preparation methods of czts are in fabricating alloy precursor under the conditions of heating or high temperature then heating and vulcanizing in a sulfur source environment. By being able to deposit czts solar cells on various surfaces, haos team believe this puts them firmly on the road to making thinfilm photovoltaic cells. Nevertheless, the impact of the sns secondary phase, which often forms alongside czts synthesis at high annealing temperature, on czts solar cells is poorly studied. Demonstrated efficiencies of up to 6,8% as well as use of cheap and. Effect of czts parameters on photovoltaic solar cell from. Mar 31, 2017 cztsbased solar cells are currently much less efficient than cigs devises12. May 06, 20 a small, prototype solar cell that uses czts, a photovoltaic semiconductor that university of utah metallurgists produced in an old microwave oven that once heated student lunches. Al, is replaced by a thin layer of singlewall carbon nanotubes bundle with a honeycomb network. Experimental study of cu2znsns4 thin films for solar cells.
By the end of the contract, a goal was to print 10 meters of continuous widewidth web with czts ink and fabricate better than 4% cells from multiple locations across the web. Ibm sets new efficiency mark for abundant material solar cell. Apr 28, 2016 by being able to deposit czts solar cells on various surfaces, haos team believe this puts them firmly on the road to making thinfilm photovoltaic cells that can be rigid or flexible, and. Pdf effect of czts parameters on photovoltaic solar cell. Investigation of the snscu2znsns4 interfaces in kesterite. It is a wellknown fact that modern society consumes a lot of energy, and at a rapidly increasing pace. As a result, this interface modification not only leads to beyond 8% ultrathin czts solar cells but also yields two certificated world record efficiencies. The cu target was subjected to dc power, and rf power was used for the sns and zns targets. Sputtering of precursors for cu2znsns4 solar cells. Cts and czts for solar cells by pulsed laser deposition and pulsed electron deposition rebecca bolt ettlinger november 14, 2016 phd thesis supervisor. Beyond 8% ultrathin kesterite cu2znsns4 solar cells by. These achievements prove that czts based solar cells have the potential to be used for largescale deployment of photovoltaics. Basic structure of czts solar cell the schematic structure of czts solar cell is shown in figure 2.
Kesterite cu2znsns4 czts, having only earthabundant elements, is a promising solar cell material. The crystal structures of czts and the observed secondary. Photoluminescence investigation of cu thin film solar cells. The class of related materials includes other i 2 iiivvi 4 such as copper zinc tin selenide cztse and the sulfurselenium alloy cztsse. Properties of high efficiency cigs thinfilm solar cells. The first kesterite solar cell was built with vacuum techniques by katagiri. Aug 21, 2012 ibms material sciences team has reached a new level of efficiency for a thin film solar cell made from the easily accessible materials copper, zinc, tin, and selenium, known as czts. To further improve the performance of czts solar cells, intensive efforts should be committed to the development of the approaches for forming pure czts phase and the detection techniques of secondary phases formed during the deposition of the czts thin film.
Efficiency for czts thin film solar cells by using nonvacuum based fabrication methods. The device performance of czts based thin film solar cells has been steadily improving over the past 20 years, and they have now reached near commercial efficiency levels 10%. Copper zinc tin sulfidebased thin film solar cells. Science of silicon pv cells scientific base for solar pv electric power generation is solidstate physics of semiconductors silicon is a popular candidate material for solar pv cells because. Czts, combining optimal band gap and low lattice mismatch, is. Properties of highefficiency cigs thinfilm solar cells kannan ramanathan, james keane, and rommel noufi national center for photovoltaics, national renewable energy laboratory, 1617 cole boulevard, golden co 80401.
Beyond 8% ultrathin kesterite cu 2 znsns 4 solar cells by. Raman mapping analysis to improve czts solar cells solar. Czts cells are thinfilm solar cells that work as a result of the photoelectric effect 4. May 26, 2014 all these factors have increased the industrialization costs of czts solar cells and limited the longterm development of czts solar cells. We propose a novel thinfilm solar cell structure in which the traditional transparent conductive oxide electrode, zno. Materials science and engineering for energy systems, 8 1, 98109. Czts thin film solar cells institute for materials. Bjorkman, combining strong interface recombination with bandgap. Unsw takes lead in race for nontoxic, thinfilm solar cells. Study of czts and cztsse solar cells for buffer layers.
Much of this improvement is due to improvements in the. Znmgo thin film is an excellent materiel for photovoltaic applications and one of potential candidates as an alternative of cds buffer layer in cigs and czts solar cells. A typical czts heterojunction solar cell starts with molybdenum mo as a back contact, czts as ptype absorber and cds as ntype window layer. Most of the thin film solar cells and asi are second generation solar cells, and are more economical as compared to the first generation silicon wafer solar cells. The czts progress and present status of czts thin film solar cells has. The primary advantage for cuin,gase 2based solar cells is the high efficiency, which has now exceeded the 20% level jackson et al. Apr 27, 2016 researchers at the university of new south wales unsw have achieved a world record conversion efficiency of 7. While starting to work on quaternary semiconductors for thinfilm solar cells, there was very little literature. Czts thin films were fabricated through sputtering from a quaternary cuznsns target, followed by a sulfurization process. Numerical device simulation of carbon nanotube contacted czts. Aug 26, 2015 the commonly observed ptype conductivity of czts thin films comes mainly from the cuzn antisite defect, partly explaining why czts thin films must be cupoor and zinc rich to successfully fabricate czts solar cells. Fundamental properties of solar cells, principles and.
Apr 27, 2016 by being able to deposit czts solar cells on various surfaces, haos team believe this puts them firmly on the road to making thinfilm photovoltaic cells that can be rigid or flexible, and durable and cheap enough to be widely integrated into buildings to generate electricity from the sunlight that strikes structures such as glazing. The swansea team is now using raman mapping analysis to explore how to improve the performance of cztsbased solar cells. The influence of the composition ratio on cztsbased thin. Each components of czts are abundant in the earths crust cu. By itself this isnt much but remember these solar cells are tiny. Czts is the i 2 iiivvi 4 quarternary compound semiconductor by substituting the selenium with sulfur, the rare metal indium with zinc and tin in cis ternary compound.
Dec 11, 20 solar frontier announced on tuesday that it had set a new conversion efficiency record for czts solar cells measuring 0. Study of thin film solar cells with optimal values using the optimized parameters obtained in previous sections, we get better performances in the solar cells outputs. It was confirmed that czts solar cells with high conversion efficiency existed in a relatively narrow composition region. Czts was first created in 1966 and was later shown to exhibit the photovoltaic effect in 1988. Growth of cztsbased monograins and their application to. Each of the first three quarters of the subcontract has been detailed in quarterly reports. In this final report highlights of the first three quarters will be provided and details will be given of the final quarter of the subcontract. They have been recognized as a promising alternative to current solar cells because of their high absorption efficiency, direct band gap around 1. Cation substitution in cu 2 znsns 4 czts, in which zn can be replaced by a number of larger cations like fe, cd, mn, ba, and co. When combined into a large solar panel, considerable amounts of renewable energy can be generated. Pdf todays thin film photovoltaic technologies comprising cuins 2.
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