Economic pulse electrodeposition for flexible CuInSe 2 solar cells
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Economic pulse electrodeposition for flexible CuInSe2 solar cells Sreekanth Mandati1 · Prashant Misra1 · Divya Boosagulla1 · Tata Naransinga Rao1 · Bulusu V. Sarada1 Received: 23 December 2019 / Accepted: 21 July 2020 / Published online: 28 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Electrodeposition is one of the leading non-vacuum techniques for the fabrication of CuInSe2 (CIS)-based solar cells. In the present work, pulse electrodeposition, an advanced technique, is utilized effectively for CIS absorber preparation devoid of any additives/complexing agents. An economic pulse electrodeposition is employed for the deposition of Cu/In stack followed by selenization to fabricate CIS absorbers on flexible and glass substrates. The approach uses a two-electrode system suitable for large area deposition and utilizes the fundamentals of pulse electrodeposition with appropriate optimization of parameters to obtain smooth Cu/In precursors. The selenized CIS absorbers are of 1 µm thick while possessing copper-poor composition (Cu/In ≈ 0.9) and tetragonal chalcopyrite phase. The fabricated devices have exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 5.2%. The technique can be further improved to obtain low-cost CIS solar cells which are suitable for various small-scale energy applications. Keywords Copper indium selenide · Pulse electrodeposition · Thin films · Solar cells · Flexible photovoltaics
Introduction Flexible photovoltaics (PV) is going to play huge role in meeting the energy demands, since the flexibility aspect offers their application in wide range from small-scale energy requirements to large scale energy production. Thin films solar cells are the most appropriate candidates for such applications which offer lightweight and flexibility. I-IIIVI2 based copper indium selenide (CIS) and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) semiconductors are the leading materials technologies among thin films solar cells owing to their superior optical, electronic properties and stability [1]. Recently, CIGS solar cells have achieved an efficiency of 23.35% from a sputtering-selenization route [2], indicating their progress towards reaching the theoretical limit. However, it is important to look for low-cost methods to explore these solar cells for flexible PV, specifically when the targeted applications are small-scale energy. In the quest for low-cost methods, solution-based electrodeposition is one of the methods explored extensively for the fabrication of * Sreekanth Mandati [email protected] 1
Center for Solar Energy Materials, International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Balapur PO, Hyderabad, Telangana 500005, India
CIGS absorbers and has witnessed efficiencies up to 17% [3–5]. Electrodeposition is a versatile technique capable of uniform large-scale deposition alongside roll-to-roll manufacturing on different shapes and sizes of substrates with high throughput, efficient materials utilization and high deposition rate [6, 7]. Another important a
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