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Optical losses of CdS films on FTO, ITO, and AZO electrodes in CdTe–HgCdTe tandem solar cells

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Abstract

Improving the spectral transmittance of CdS films used in CdTe–HgCdTe tandem solar cells has a great impact on the effective utilization of sunlight and increases the device short-circuit current density (Jsc). Herein, the optical losses of as-deposited and CdCl2 annealed CdS films on different types of transparent conductive oxide are first studied in the visible to near infrared wavelength range. In the ranges 520–820, 820–1150, and 520–1150 nm, the average transmittance and the Jsc losses of the CdS films are closely related to the transparent conductive oxide type. CdCl2 annealing improves the average transmittance and reduces the Jsc losses of the annealed CdS films. Bilayer films of AZO and annealed CdS exhibit the minimum Jsc loss of 3.33 mA/cm2 for the CdTe top cell, bilayer films of ITO and annealed CdS exhibit the minimum Jsc loss of 3.46 mA/cm2 for the HgCdTe bottom cell, and bilayer films of AZO and annealed CdS exhibit the minimum Jsc loss of 7.20 mA/cm2 for the CdTe–HgCdTe solar cells.

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Acknowledgments

Finance is supported by the Ningbo Technology Innovation Team (2011B81004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Min Guo & Hejun Li

  2. Inner Mongolia Metallic Materials Research Institute, Ningbo, 315103, China

    Min Guo & Xiurong Zhu

  3. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Kezhi Zhang

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  1. Min Guo
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  2. Kezhi Zhang
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  3. Xiurong Zhu
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  4. Hejun Li
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Correspondence to Min Guo.

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Guo, M., Zhang, K., Zhu, X. et al. Optical losses of CdS films on FTO, ITO, and AZO electrodes in CdTe–HgCdTe tandem solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 7607–7613 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-3397-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-3397-1

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