Impact of nanoscale Cu (I) precursors prepared by solution process on large-area CdTe solar cells

Abstract

In recent years, the study of Cu (Ӏ) precursors in high-performance CdTe thin-film solar cell devices has received increasing attention. However, few studies have been reported on nanoscale Cu (I) precursors in large-area CdTe devices (≥1 cm2). Here, three different Cu (Ӏ) nano precursors have been rapidly prepared by solution method (CuCl ethanol solution, CuI acetonitrile solution, and CuSCN aqueous ammonia solution) and their effects on the performance of commercial large-area CdTe thin-film solar cells have been investigated. The results show that the distribution amount and uniformity of the nano precursor particles on the CdTe back surface have a large impact on the device performance. The CuCl nanoparticles are more uniformly distributed and the device performance is more excellent. CuI nanoparticles easily formed clusters at grain boundaries. Denser distribution of CuSCN nanoparticles. The thermal diffusion conditions (temperature, time and precursor concentration) have a significant effect on the device performance, but the most reasonable thermal diffusion conditions tend to be the same for all devices. This suggests that the thermal diffusion conditions are determined by the nature of the CdTe absorber layer itself and are not interfered by different nano precursors.