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Route towards low cost-high efficiency second generation solar cells: current status and perspectives

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Abstract

The most efficient thin film solar cells are based on Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGSSe) and CdTe compounds, known as second generation polycrystalline thin films. The challenge of these materials is to reduce the cost per watt of solar energy conversion, but they are actually formed by expensive and/or scanty elements in the earth’s crust such as In, Ga, Te and other that present toxicity issues like Cd. In the last years, new materials with properties of interest for photovoltaic applications and formed by non toxic and relatively abundant elements, have been suggested as alternatives to the main second generation solar cells based on CdTe and CIGSSe. Semiconductor compounds with kesterite structure (Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4, Cu2ZnSnS4, Cu2ZnSnSe4) and other like In2S3, all of them Cadmium-free have been proposed as new candidates for thin film solar cells. However, reported solar cell efficiencies for these compounds have not yet reached the expected values. In this work, we present a review of the limiting factors for achieving high efficiency in thin film solar cells, related to deposition methods as well as the different mechanisms that limit cell performance. Significant results in the processing of solar cells using some of these compounds and preliminary results of the In2S3 deposition with an overview to its use as buffer layer are presented.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by SENER-Conacyt (project 000000000117891) and by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, project KEST-PV (ref. ENE2010-121541-C03-1), the Framework 7 program under the project PVICOKEST (PIRSES-GA-2009-269167) and by European Regional Development Founds (ERDF, FEDER Programa Competitivitat de Catalunya 2007–2013). Authors from IREC and the University of Barcelona belong to the M-2E (Electronic Materials for Energy) Consolidated Research Group and the XaRMAE Network of Excellence on Materials for Energy of the “Generalitat de Catalunya”. O. Vigil-Galán acknowledges support from COFAA and EDI of IPN. M. Courel thanks Conacyt and PIFI fellowship supports. E.S. thanks the Government of Spain for the “Ramon y Cajal” fellowship (RYC-2011-09212), and M.E-R. the FPI-MINECO (BES-2011-045774).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Superior de Física y Matemáticas-Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), C.P. 07738, Mexico D.F., Mexico

    O. Vigil-Galán, Maykel Courel & J. A. Andrade-Arvizu

  2. Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), C. Jardins de les Dones de Negre 1, 08930, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain

    Y. Sánchez, M. Espíndola-Rodríguez & E. Saucedo

  3. Centro de Investigaciones en Ingenieria y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, C.P. 62209, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    D. Seuret-Jiménez

  4. Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

    Matthew Titsworth

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  1. O. Vigil-Galán
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Correspondence to Maykel Courel.

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Vigil-Galán, O., Courel, M., Andrade-Arvizu, J.A. et al. Route towards low cost-high efficiency second generation solar cells: current status and perspectives. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 5562–5573 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-014-2196-4

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