Implied Open-circuit Voltage Imaging via a Single Bandpass Filter Method: Its First Application in Perovskite Solar Cells

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel, contactless imaging method for measuring implied open-circuit voltage in large-area photovoltaic cells using a single bandpass filter, simplifying calibration and broadening application scope.

Contribution

It presents the first application of a single bandpass filter for implied open-circuit voltage imaging in perovskite solar cells, eliminating complex calibration procedures.

Findings

Error in iVOC measurement is less than 1.5%.

Method successfully applied to different perovskite compositions.

Enables contactless, spectrally-integrated imaging of photovoltaic devices.

Abstract

A direct, camera-based implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC) imaging method via the novel use of a single bandpass filter (s-BPF) is developed for large-area photovoltaic solar cells and solar cell precursors. This method images the photoluminescence (PL) emission using a narrow BPF with centre energy in the high-energy tail of the PL emission taking advantage of the close-to-unity absorptivity of typical photovoltaic devices with low variability in this energy range. As a result, the exact value of the sample's absorptivity within the BPF transmission band is not required. The use of a s-BPF enables the adaptation of a fully contactless approach to calibrate the absolute PL photon flux for camera-based spectrally-integrated imaging tools. The method eliminates the need for knowledge of the imaging system spectral response and the use of the emission and excitation spectral shapes. Through an appropriate choice of the BPF centre energy, a range of absorber compositions or a single absorber with different surface morphologies (e.g., planar vs textured) can be imaged, all without the need for additional detection optics. The feasibility of this s-BPF method is first assessed using a high-quality Cs0.05FA0.79MA0.16Pb(I0.83Br0.17)3 perovskite neat film. The error in iVOC is determined to be less than 1.5%. The efficacy of the method is then demonstrated on device stacks with two different perovskite compositions commonly used in single-junction and monolithic tandem solar cells.