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2023 Vol.11, Issue 1 Preview Page
Effect of Ag Alloying on Device Performance of Flexible CIGSe Thin-film Solar Cells Using Stainless Steel Substrates
Awet Mana Amare1
,
Inchan Hwang1
,
Inyoung Jeong1
,
Joo Hyung Park1
,
Jin Gi An1
,
Soomin Song1
,
Young-Joo Eo1
,
Ara Cho1
,
Jun-Sik Cho1
,
Seung Kyu Ahn1
,
Jinsu Yoo1
,
SeJin Ahn1
,
Jihye Gwak1
,
Hyun-wook Park2
,
Jae Ho Yun2
,
Kihwan Kim1*
,
Donghyeop Shin1**
1Photovoltaics Research Department, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), 152-Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34129, Korea
2Department of Energy Engineering, Korea Institute of Energy Technology, Naju, 58217, Korea
*Corresponding Author
**Corresponding Author
31 March 2023. pp. 8-12
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Abstract

In this work, we investigated the thickness of Ag precursor layer to improve the performance of flexible CIGSe solar cells grown on stainless steel (STS) substrates through three-stage co-evaporation with Ga grading followed by alkali treatments. The small amount of incorporated Ag in CIGSe films showed enhancement in the grain size and device efficiency. With an optimal 6 nm-thick Ag layer, the best cell on the STS substrate yielded more than 16%, which is comparable to the soda-lime glass (SLG) substrate. Thus, the addition of controlled Ag combined with alkali post-deposition treatment (PDT) led to increased open-circuit voltage (VOC), accompanied by the increased built-in potential as confirmed by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It is related to a reduction of charge recombination at the depletion region. The results suggest that Ag alloying and alkali PDT are essential for producing highly efficient flexible CIGSe solar cells.

Keywords
Flexible solar cells
Stainless steel substrate
Ag alloying
Alkali post-deposition treatment
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Information
  • Publisher :Korea Photovoltaic Society
  • Publisher(Ko) :한국태양광발전학회
  • Journal Title :Current Photovoltaic Research
  • Volume : 11
  • No :1
  • Pages :8-12
  • Received Date : 2023-02-10
  • Revised Date : 2023-03-20
  • Accepted Date : 2023-03-20
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.21218/CPR.2023.11.1.008
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