Nanomaterials (Jun 2023)

Towards All-Non-Vacuum-Processed Photovoltaic Systems: A Water-Based Screen-Printed Cu(In,Ga)Se<sub>2</sub> Photoabsorber with a 6.6% Efficiency

  • Bruna F. Gonçalves,
  • Viviana Sousa,
  • José Virtuoso,
  • Evgeny Modin,
  • Oleg I. Lebedev,
  • Gabriela Botelho,
  • Sascha Sadewasser,
  • Laura M. Salonen,
  • Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez,
  • Yury V. Kolen’ko

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13131920
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 13
p. 1920

Abstract

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During the last few decades, major advances have been made in photovoltaic systems based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 chalcopyrite. However, the most efficient photovoltaic cells are processed under high-energy-demanding vacuum conditions. To lower the costs and facilitate high-throughput production, printing/coating processes are proving to be effective solutions. This work combined printing, coating, and chemical bath deposition processes of photoabsorber, buffer, and transparent conductive layers for the development of solution-processed photovoltaic systems. Using a sustainable approach, all inks were formulated using water and ethanol as solvents. Screen printing of the photoabsorber on fluorine-doped tin-oxide-coated glass followed by selenization, chemical bath deposition of the cadmium sulfide buffer, and final sputtering of the intrinsic zinc oxide and aluminum-doped zinc oxide top conductive layers delivered a 6.6% maximum efficiency solar cell, a record for screen-printed Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells. On the other hand, the all-non-vacuum-processed device with spray-coated intrinsic zinc-oxide- and tin-doped indium oxide top conductive layers delivered a 2.2% efficiency. The given approaches represent relevant steps towards the fabrication of sustainable and efficient Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells.

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