CuIn(Se,Te)2 absorbers with bandgaps < 1 eV for bottom cells in tandem applications

TL;DR

This study explores CuIn(Se,Te)2 thin-film absorbers with sub-1 eV bandgaps for tandem solar cells, demonstrating successful growth, stable photoluminescence, and a record 9% efficiency, highlighting potential for enhanced solar device performance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to produce CuIn(Se,Te)2 absorbers with tunable bandgaps below 1 eV, suitable for bottom cells in tandem solar devices, and reports the highest efficiency achieved to date.

Findings

CuIn(Se,Te)2 films can be grown single phase by co-evaporation.

Bandgap can be tuned to 0.92-0.95 eV for optimal bottom cell performance.

A record 9% power conversion efficiency was achieved with a 0.96 eV bandgap.

Abstract

Thin-film solar cells reach high efficiencies and have a low carbon footprint in production. Tandem solar cells have the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of this technology, where the bottom-cell is generally composed of a Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layer with bandgaps around 1 eV or higher. Here, we investigate CuIn(Se1-xTex)2 absorber layers and solar cells with bandgaps below 1 eV, which will bring the benefit of an additional degree of freedom for designing current-matched 2-terminal tandem devices. We report that CuIn(Se1-xTex)2 thin films can be grown single phase by co-evaporation and that the bandgap can be reduced to the optimum range for a bottom cell (0.92 - 0.95 eV). From photoluminescence spectroscopy it is found that no additional non-radiative losses are introduced to the absorber. However, Voc losses occur in the final solar cell due to non-optimised interfaces. Nevertheless, a record device with 9 % power conversion efficiency is demonstrated with a bandgap of 0.96 eV and x=0.15. Interface recombination is identified as a major recombination channel for larger Te contents. Thus, further efficiency improvements are anticipated for improved absorber/buffer interfaces.