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Boosting the efficiency of GeSe solar cells by low-temperature treatment of p-n junction

通过p-n结低温退火处理提升GeSe太阳能电池效率

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Abstract

Germanium monoselenide (GeSe) is an emerging promising photovoltaic absorber material due to its attractive optoelectronic properties as well as non-toxic and earth-abundant constitutes. However, all previously reported GeSe solar cells rely on a superstrate configuration coupled with a CdS buffer layer, and suffer from unsatisfactory performance. Here we demonstrate that this low efficiency arises from the inevitable high-temperature treatment of p-n junction in superstrate configuration. This results in the diffusion of Cd atoms from CdS layer into GeSe film that introduces detrimental deep trap states inside the bandgap of GeSe (∼0.34 eV below conduction band minimum). We adopt therefore a substrate configuration that enables the deposition of CdS atop pre-deposited polycrystalline GeSe film at room temperature, avoiding the Cd diffusion. By optimizing the annealing temperature of complete devices via a high-throughput screening method, the resulting substrate solar cells annealed at 150°C achieve an efficiency of 3.1%, two times that of the best previously reported superstrate GeSe results.

摘要

GeSe作为一种新兴光伏吸收层材料, 具有良好的光电性能, 且原料无毒、 储量丰富. 然而, 以往报道的GeSe太阳能电池都采用顶衬结构, 并使用CdS缓冲层, 性能不理想. 本文发现顶衬结构GeSe太阳能电池效率低下的原因是不可避免的p-n结高温热处理. 这导致Cd原子从CdS层扩散到GeSe薄膜中, 并在GeSe的禁带内引入有害的深缺陷态(位于导带底~0.34 eV的位置). 因此, 我们首次制备了底衬结构GeSe太阳能电池. 该结构可实现CdS层在多晶GeSe薄膜上的室温沉积, 从而避免了有害的Cd扩散. 通过进一步采用高通量的筛选方法来优化器件的退火温度, 当退火温度在150°C时, 器件效率达到最高的3.1%, 为以前报道最佳结果的2倍.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21911512 and 21875264), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2017050). The authors thank Dr. **ang Li (ICCAS) for the preparation of TEM samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bei**g National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Nanostructure and Nanotechnology, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    Shun-Chang Liu  (刘顺畅), **peng Wu  (吴劲澎), **ng Zhang  (张星), Mingjie Feng  (冯明杰), Ding-Jiang Xue  (薛丁江) & **-Song Hu  (胡劲松)

  2. School of Material and Chemical Engineering, Tongren University, Tongren, 554300, China

    Zongbao Li  (**宗宝)

  3. National Engineering Research Center for Advanced Polymer Processing Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Mingjie Feng  (冯明杰)

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Shun-Chang Liu  (刘顺畅), **peng Wu  (吴劲澎), **ng Zhang  (张星), Ding-Jiang Xue  (薛丁江) & **-Song Hu  (胡劲松)

Authors
  1. Shun-Chang Liu  (刘顺畅)
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  2. Zongbao Li  (**宗宝)
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  3. **peng Wu  (吴劲澎)
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  4. **ng Zhang  (张星)
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  5. Mingjie Feng  (冯明杰)
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  6. Ding-Jiang Xue  (薛丁江)
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  7. **-Song Hu  (胡劲松)
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Contributions

Author contributions Xue DJ and Liu SC conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Liu SC prepared the films, fabricated the devices and characterized them. Zhang X carried out the TEM characterization. Li Z performed the DFT calculations and analyzed the results. Wu J and Feng M assisted in the device fabrication. Xue DJ and Liu SC wrote the paper. Xue DJ and Hu JS supervised the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ding-Jiang Xue  (薛丁江).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Shun-Chang Liu received his BS degree in chemistry from Nankai University in 2015, and his PhD degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS) in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. **-Song Hu. Currently, he is a research assistant in ICCAS. His research focuses on GeSe thin-film solar cells and inorganic perovskite solar cells.

Ding-Jiang Xue received his PhD degree from ICCAS in 2013. Currently, he is a Professor at ICCAS. His research interest focuses on inorganic thin-film solar cells based on GeSe and inorganic perovskites.

**-Song Hu is currently a professor at ICCAS. He received his PhD degree in physical chemistry at ICCAS in 2005, then joined ICCAS as an assistant professor and was promoted as Associated Professor in 2007. He worked in Prof. Charles M. Lieber’s group at Harvard University in 2008–2011, then moved back to ICCAS as a Full Professor. His research currently focuses on develo** new functional nanomaterials for efficient electrochemical energy conversion and solar energy conversion.

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Liu, SC., Li, Z., Wu, J. et al. Boosting the efficiency of GeSe solar cells by low-temperature treatment of p-n junction. Sci. China Mater. 64, 2118–2126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1617-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1617-x

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