SEF01: Solar Energy Conversion (2011-12)

Session 1 Mon 10 Oct 2-5 pm Prof J. Nelson Prof J. Nelson Dr N. Ekins-Daukes Session 2 Mon 17 Oct 25 pm Dr N. Ekins Daukes Prof J. Nelson Mon 24 Oct 25 pm Prof J. Nelson

The solar resource and solar energy conversion PV systems Silicon solar cell technology

Concentrator Photovoltaics and Concentrated solar thermal power

Session 3

Photovoltaic materials Thin film PV materials Organic photovoltaic materials

Objectives: To understand the principles of solar photovoltaic energy conversion To appreciate the role of materials in PV technology and the status of established (silicon, then film) and emerging (organic) photovoltaic technologies To be able to solve simple problems in the design of PV systems or applications of PV

Photovoltaic materials and future approaches: Outline

Strategies to reduce the cost per peak Watt Cheaper (thin film) photovoltaic materials Organic photovoltaic materials Limits to power conversion efficiency

THE FUTURE FOR PV

16000.00

Installed capacity / MWp

14000.00 12000.00 10000.00 8000.00 6000.00 4000.00 2000.00 0.00 grid connected off grid

19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08

Data: www.iea-pvps.org

Status of Silicon PV

PERL cell

Maximum lab cell efficiency 24.9% Module efficiency >15%

> 20 GWp capacity installed globally. Dominated by from polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon modules.
Module price ~ 3.47 $/Wp (US) or 3.09 Eu/Wp (http://www.solarbuzz.com) Cost of electricity (US) ~ 0.22 $/kWh (Commercial), 0.32 $/kWh (Residential)

Strategies to cost reduction

Crystalline silicon solar cells are expensive

Use cheaper photovoltaic material?

More work per photon?

Use less photovoltaic material?

Cheaper photovoltaic materials

PV materials

Material Crystalline silicon (c-Si) Crystalline GaAs Polycrystalline Si (p-Si) Amorphous Si (a-Si) CuInGaSe2 Cd Te Polymer / fullerene

1.1

42

indirect

>10 m

-3

Absorption coefficient / m

Band gap (eV)

Max Jsc -2 (mA cm )

Type of gap

Crystal size
-1

10 10 10 10 10 10

1.4 1.1 ~1.7

32 42 ~ 23

direct indirect ~ direct

>10 m 10 m amorphous
-4

-3

Silicon GaAs aSi absCIS P3HT

> 1.0 1.4 1.6

< 45 42 24

direct direct Direct (finite band width)

10 m 10 m amorphous
-6

-6

Photon energy / eV

PV materials
Best cell performance parameters
Cell Type c-Si c-GaAs poly-Si a-Si CuInGaSe2 Cd Te Polymer / fullerene Area 2 (cm ) 4.0 3.91 1.0 1.0 1.04 1.131 0.1 Voc (V) 0.696 1.022 0.628 0.887 0.669 0.848 ~0.75 Jsc (mA 2 /cm ) 42.0 28.2 36.2 19.4 35.7 25.9 ~15 FF (%) 83.6 87.1 78.5 74.1 77.0 74.5 ~70 Efficiency (%) 24.9 25.1 19.8 12.7 18.4 16.4 ~8

80 70 theoretical limit

Jsc / mA cm

JSC decreases and VOC increases as band gap Eg is increased Efficiency limited by material quality: grain size limits charge carrier collection efficiency

60
-2

50 40 30 20 10 0 0.5 0.6 poly-Si

c-Si

CIGS

CdTe a-Si

GaAs

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.1

1.2

Voc /V

PV materials
Material Band gap (eV) 1.1 Theoretical Jsc (mAcm-2) Grain size (um) >104 >104 10-100 Voc (V) Jsc (mA /cm2) FF (%) Efficiency (%)

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) Crystalline GaAs Polycrystalline Si (p-Si) Amorphous Si (a-Si) CuInGaSe2 Cd Te Organic (polymer / fullerene)

42

0.696

42.0

83.6

24.9

1.4 1.1

32 42

1.022 0.628

28.2 36.2

87.1 78.5

25.1 19.8

~1.7

~ 23

Amorphous 1 1 Amorphous

0.887

19.4

74.1

12.7

> 1.0 1.4 1.6

< 45 42 24

0.669 0.848 ~0.75

35.7 25.9 ~15

77.0 74.5 ~70

18.4 16.4 ~8

Photovoltaic materials and future approaches: Outline

Strategies to reduce the cost per peak Watt Cheaper (thin film) photovoltaic materials Organic photovoltaic materials Limits to power conversion efficiency

Thin film (2nd Generation) Photovoltaics

Single Semiconductor Junction. Amorphous / micro-crystalline material Low materials usage Low embedded energy Low cost Large unit size

Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell 6%

Efficiency
6% a-Si, 6m2

Polymer, 4% 10% CdTe, $0.98/W

a-Si, Richmond, U.K.

Thin-film Silicon

Direct deposition of Si onto glass from SiH4 Typically 6% efficient module (14.7% research lab) Low cost of materials Large manufacturing Unit Low embedded energy Efficiency

6% a-c-Si, Applied materials ~ 6m2

4% semi-transparent Si, Kaneka

Thin-film Silicon
Micromorph tandem Direct deposition of Si onto glass from SiH4 Typically 10% efficient module (14.7% research lab) Low cost of materials Large manufacturing unit Low embedded energy Growth rate (30nm/min) (PECVD)

ZnO

Micromorph tandem
E.g. Oerlikon Solar

a-Si

Basic micromorph process steps

Clean glass Deposit TCO Laser scribe :1

Rear TCO

Laser scribe :2

Semiconductor deposition

Laser scribe 3

Contact, Encapsulate, Test

Oerlikon production system

Micro-morph tandem module performance

Initial module efficiency: 12.2% Module efficiency after light soaking: 10.7%

U.Kroll et al., Thin film silicon PV: from R&D to large area production equipment. Oerlikon Solar Lab SA, Proc 37th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference 2011.

CdTe Thin-Film Modules

CdS & CdTe films grown by vapour transport deposition Extremely fast deposition rate >10m/min 10% module efficiency (16.9% research lab) Low cost of materials Large manufacturing unit Low embedded energy Abundance of Te

Glass Superstrate FTO

CdS

100nm
3m

CdTe

Nickel Aluminium Ethyl vinyl acetate Glass laminate

E.g. First Solar

Basic CdTe process steps

Photovoltaic materials and future approaches: Outline

Strategies to reduce the cost per peak Watt Cheaper (thin film) photovoltaic materials Organic photovoltaic materials Limits to power conversion efficiency

Molecular photovoltaic materials

The goal
solution deposition metal deposition

encapsulant

substrate

contacts

active layer

Current and voltage output flexible substrate barrier coating

Target cost < 0.5 $/Wp

Light

Rapid growth in production capacity possible

Molecular electronic materials

1 nm

Easily processable e.g. from solution Abundant, non-toxic materials Tune properties via chemical design
Excited states are localised: limited charge and exciton mobility

dye

conjugated molecule

1 nm

Konarka Technologies

conjugated polymer

The main issue: charge separation

Inorganic semiconductor
EB ~ 0.01 eV Spontaneous charge pair generation

+
active region

Molecular semiconductor

EB ~ 0. 1- 0.5 eV Charges hard to dissociate

+-

dead region

Cannot copy inorganic PV device structures!

Donor-acceptor solar energy converters

C60

Conjugated polymer

Electron acceptor

Electron donor

EB can be supplied by the free energy difference between donor and acceptor species

Donor acceptor blend

active region

Bulk heterojunction device structure

Donor-acceptor bulk heterojunction devices

Cathode

Donor-Acceptor blend

e-

h+

Active layer can be 100s of nm - limited by charge diffusion length

Anode
Substrate

Domain size ca. 10 nm. ~ exciton diffusion length

Blend layer deposited from solution

Key steps in photocurrent generation

1. Photon absorption
2 1

+
4

2. Exciton diffusion Exciton decay 3. Exciton dissociation geminate charge pair

Other excited states e.g. triplets

Geminate charge pair recombination

4. Geminate charge pair separation

5. Charge transport to contacts

Non-geminate charge pair recombination

Current generation

Parameters influencing photovoltaic performance

Absorption spectra
microstructure

Domain size

Order in molecular packing

Exciton diffusion lengths

Domain connectivity

LUMO
DEe LUMO

charge separation

absorption edge

Eg

DECS

HOMO donor HOMO acceptor (PCBM)

open circuit voltage

energy levels

Role of energy levels

Donor HOMO- acceptor LUMO gap controls maximum Voc
LUMO

-2

Current density / mA cm

0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50

DEe
LUMO

P3HT:PCBM solar cell =4%

Donor optical gap controls Jsc

Eg

DECS

EFn eVoc EFp

High efficiency silicon cell = 24 %

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

HOMO
donor HOMO acceptor (PCBM)

-60 0.0

Voltage / V

State of the Art

LUMO

- 3.31 eV
Eg

DEe

LUMO

DECS

- 5.15 eV

HOMO electron donor HOMO electron acceptor

Combination of strategies (lower Eg and deeper HOMO energy) leads to power conversion efficiency of over 7% (now 8%)

Liang et al., Adv. Mater.22 (2010)

State of the Art

Hauch et al., Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 92, 727 (2008)

Food packaging

ALD deposited alumina / organic layer

Lifetimes of several years demonstrated with low to moderate permeability barriers (WVTR of 10-5 10-2 g/m2/day).

Kim et al., Appl. Phys.Lett.94, 166308 (2009)

State of the Art

Cells combined into modules to deliver useful dc voltages First consumer products being tested on market

0.1 1.3 Wp 0.5 m2 9 Wp m2

Vmpp ~ 8 V Impp = 0.16 1 A

Projected Markets
Nielsen et al., Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 94, 1553 (2010)

When
Consumer electronics Mobile power Small scale BIPV Power generation 2010-2013 2012-2015 2015-2018 2018-2025

Efficiency (module)
1-3% 3-4% 4-6% 6-9%

Lifetime
1-2 years 1-3 years 3-5 years 5-7 years

Cost (system)
8-12 $/W 2-4 $/W 1 $/W 0.5 $/W

Capacity
1 GWp /year 1.5 GWp /year 5 GWp /year 60 GWp /year

Also need to identify markets distinct from those of competing thin film PV

Research goals
Efficiency: materials for optimised light absorption and voltage generation understanding charge pair separation control of film microstructure high mobility materials selective electrodes Lifetime: materials with improved photostability control of film microstructure stable electrodes Cost: scalable and fast fabrication processes cheap electrodes stable photoactive materials and electrodes

Research programme at Imperial College London

Study the microstructure of photovoltaic thin films All as a function of chemical structure and processing

Design and synthesise materials with optimised energy levels and self organising properties
contacts active layer

Study the photophysics of thin films

Study the electrical properties of thin films

Current and voltage output flexible substrate barrier coating

Light

Develop models for material and device design

Optimise PV device performance and structure

Scale up fabrication process

Research programme at Imperial College London

Study the microstructure of photovoltaic thin films All as a function of chemical structure and processing

Design and synthesise materials with optimised energy levels and self organising properties
contacts active layer

Study the photophysics of thin films

Study the electrical properties of thin films

Current and voltage output flexible substrate barrier coating

Light

Develop models for material and device design

Optimise PV device performance and structure

Scale up fabrication process

Research programme at Imperial College London

Study the microstructure of photovoltaic thin films All as a function of chemical structure and processing

Design and synthesise materials with optimised energy levels and self organising properties

Study the photophysics of thin films 3 Departments > 10 academics > 50 researchers Several m grant funding National, international and industrial collaborations

Study the electrical properties of thin films

Develop models for material and device design

Optimise PV device performance and structure

Scale up fabrication process

Summary
The cost per Watt of PV electricity can be reduced by: Reducing the cost of PV material using thin film materials Increasing the amount of work per photon Reducing the amount of PV material per photon harvested Inorganic thin films are amorphous or microcrystalline materials that can be deposited in fast processes e.g. from vapour phase Leading options are amorphous Si, microcrystalline Si, CdTe and CuInGaSe2 a-Si / micro-Si tandem structures offer 10% module efficiency but are limited by slow growth CdTe offers rapid growth but is potentially limited by Te availability Organic thin films offer rapid and low cost production by printing or coating from solution