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Piezo-phototronic and pyro-phototronic effects to enhance Cu(In, Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells

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Abstract

Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS)-based materials have gained remarkable attention for thin-film photovoltaic applications due to their high absorption coefficient, tunable bandgap, compositional tolerance, outstanding stabilities, and high efficiency. A small increase in the efficiency of CIGS solar cells has huge economic impact and practical importance. As such, we fabricated a flexible CIGS solar cell on amica substrate and demonstrated the enhanced device performance through the piezo- and pyro-phototronic effects based on a ZnO thin film. The device showed enhanced energy conversion efficiency from 13.48% to 14.23% by decreasing the temperature from 31 to 2 °C at a rate of ∼ 0.6 °C·s−1 via the pyro-phototronic effect, and further enhanced from 14.23% to 14.37% via the piezo-phototronic effect by further applying a static compressive strain. A pyro-electric nanogenerator effect was also found to promote the performance of the CIGS solar cell at the beginning of the cooling process. The manipulated energy band of the CIGS/CdS/ZnO heterojunction under the influence of the inner pyroelectric and piezoelectric potentials is believed to contribute to the sephenomena. Applying the piezo- and pyro-phototronic effects simultaneously offers a new opportunity for enhancing the output performance of commercialthin film solar cells.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the “thousands talents” program for pioneer researcher and his innovation team, China, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11704032, 51432005, 5151101243 and 51561145021), the National Key R&D Project from Ministery of Science and Technology (No. 2016YFA0202704), the National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2016M600067).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Laipan Zhu, Pei Lin, Baodong Chen, Longfei Wang, Libo Chen, Ding Li & Zhong Lin Wang

  2. College of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhong Lin Wang

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  1. Laipan Zhu
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  2. Pei Lin
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Correspondence to Zhong Lin Wang.

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Zhu, L., Lin, P., Chen, B. et al. Piezo-phototronic and pyro-phototronic effects to enhance Cu(In, Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells. Nano Res. 11, 3877–3885 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1962-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1962-z

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