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arXiv · 2404.05974

Vacancy enhanced cation ordering enables >15% efficiency in Kesterite solar cells

Jinlin Wang·Licheng Lou·Kang Yin·Fanqi Meng·Xiao Xu·Menghan Jiao·Bowen Zhang·Jiangjian Shi·Huijue Wu·Yanhong Luo·Dongmei Li·Qingbo Meng
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Abstract

Atomic disorder, a widespread problem in compound crystalline materials, is a imperative affecting the performance of multi-chalcogenide Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 (CZTSSe) photovoltaic device known for its low cost and environmental friendliness. Cu-Zn disorder is particularly abundantly present in CZTSSe due to its extraordinarily low formation energy, having induced high-concentration deep defects and severe charge loss, while its regulation remains challenging due to the contradiction between disorder-order phase transition thermodynamics and atom-interchange kinetics. Herein, through introducing more vacancies in the CZTSSe surface, we explored a vacancy-assisted strategy to reduce the atom-interchange barrier limit to facilitate the Cu-Zn ordering kinetic process. The improvement in the Cu-Zn order degree has significantly reduced the charge loss in the device and helped us realize 15.4% (certified at 14.9%) and 13.5% efficiency (certified at 13.3%) in 0.27 cm2 and 1.1 cm2-area CZTSSe solar cells, respectively, thus bringing substantial advancement for emerging inorganic thin-film photovoltaics.

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Jinlin Wang, Licheng Lou, Kang Yin, Fanqi Meng, Xiao Xu, Menghan Jiao, Bowen Zhang, Jiangjian Shi, Huijue Wu, Yanhong Luo, Dongmei Li, Qingbo Meng. 2024-04-09. Vacancy enhanced cation ordering enables >15% efficiency in Kesterite solar cells. https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05974

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