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Electrochemical texturing of Al-doped ZnO thin films for photovoltaic applications

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Abstract

The processes during chemical and electrochemical etching of Al-doped ZnO are investigated utilizing a scanning flow cell setup with online detection of dissolved Zn ions. The rate of chemical dissolution was found to be a linear function of buffer and proton concentration in near neutral pH solutions according to a transport limited reaction. In contrast, electrochemical etching is limited by the kinetics of the reaction and increases linearly with the imposed current density. Due to this fundamental difference, the dissolution of Zn can be either uniform over the whole surface or highly localized at active sites like grain boundaries. A combined approach of chemical etching and the well-controllable galvanostatic dissolution thus allows a fine adjustment of the ZnO:Al surface texture for applications in silicon thin film photovoltaic cells in order to improve their overall energy conversion efficiency.

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank Janine Worbs (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) for deposition of ZnO:Al thin films. Furthermore, the financial support by Dortmunder Oberflächencentrum GmbH, Dortmund, Germany and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, grant PU 447/1-1) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck Institut für Eisenforschung, Max-Planck Str. 1, 40237, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Sebastian O. Klemm, Achim Walter Hassel & Karl J. J. Mayrhofer

  2. Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IEK5–Photovoltaik, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Sascha E. Pust & Jürgen Hüpkes

  3. Institute for Chemical Technology of Inorganic Materials, Johannes Kepler University, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria

    Achim Walter Hassel

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  1. Sebastian O. Klemm
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  2. Sascha E. Pust
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  4. Jürgen Hüpkes
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  5. Karl J. J. Mayrhofer
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Correspondence to Sebastian O. Klemm.

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Klemm, S.O., Pust, S.E., Hassel, A.W. et al. Electrochemical texturing of Al-doped ZnO thin films for photovoltaic applications. J Solid State Electrochem 16, 283–290 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-011-1313-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-011-1313-z

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