Materials and Light Management for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells
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Materials and Light Management for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells Hairen TAN 谭海仁 Materials and Light Management for High-Efficiency Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. ir. K.C.A.M. Luyben, voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op 25 september 2015 om 12:30 uur door Hairen TAN Master of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences geboren te Jiangxi, China This dissertation has been approved by the promotor: prof. dr. M. Zeman and Copromotor: dr. ir. A.H.M. Smets Composition of the doctoral committee: Rector Magnificus, chairperson prof. dr. M. Zeman, Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor dr. ir. A.H.M. Smets, Technische Universiteit Delft, copromotor Independent members: prof. dr. R.A.J. Janssen, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven prof. dr. W.C. Sinke, Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland, prof. dr. B. Rech Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie dr. F.-J. Haug École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne prof. dr. P. Palensky Technische Universiteit Delft prof. dr. T. J. Dingemans Technische Universiteit Delft, reservelid This thesis project is financially supported by the VIDI project granted to Dr. Arno Smets by NWO-STW (the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research-Dutch Foundation for Applied Sciences). Copyright © 2015, H. TAN Front and back covers are from one single photo taken by H. Tan in Germany in September 2014 A farm with PV integrated houses in Obserstdorf, Germany Cover design by H. Tan Thesis printed by: CPI-Koninklijke Wohrmann Print Service All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, nor transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. ISBN 978-94-6203-871-4 A digital copy of this thesis is available at http://repository.tudelft.nl To my daughters Shiya (Erin) and Shiqi (Emily) For their endless joy given to papa and mama To my wife Minyan For her kind support and assistance for my life Contents Chapter 1 Introduction to thin-film silicon solar cells .......................................................... 1 1.1 Thin-film silicon solar cells ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Light trapping for thin-film silicon solar cells ........................................................ 7 1.3 Other requirements for high-efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells ..................... 9 1.4 Goals and outline of the thesis ................................................................................ 10 1.5 Contribution of this thesis to the research field .................................................... 11 References ........................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter 2 Plasmonic light trapping in thin-film silicon solar cells with improvd self- assembled silver nanoparticles ................................................................................................ 17 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 19 2.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................. 20 2.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 27 References ........................................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 3 Design of plasmonic back reflector for thin-film silicon solar cells ............. 31 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 33 3.3 Localized surface plasmon resonance in metal nanoparticles ............................ 34 3.4 Optical and electrical design of plasmonic back reflector for amorphous silicon solar cells .......................................................................................................................... 35 3.4.1 Effect of the shape/morphology of Ag NPs .................................................. 35 3.4.2 Effect of the spacer layer between Ag film and Ag NPs ............................ 38 3.4.3 Effect of the spacer layer between Ag NPs and n-doped a-Si:H layer ..... 39 3.4.4 Effect of the size of Ag NPs ............................................................................ 40 3.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 42 References ........................................................................................................................ 43 Chapter 4 Plasmonic back reflector for nanocrystalline silicon solar cells ..................... 45 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 46 4.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 46 4.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................. 47 4.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 53 References ........................................................................................................................ 53 Chapter 5 Micro-textured glass substrate for nanocrystalline silicon solar cells ........... 57 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 58 5.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 58 5.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................. 60 5.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 66 References ........................................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 6 Wide bandgap p-type nanocrystalline silicon oxide as window layer for high Voc a-Si:H solar cells ................................................................................................................. 69 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 70 6.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 71 6.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................. 73 6.3.1 Micro-structure and properties of p-SiOx materials ................................... 73 6.3.2 p-SiOx as contact layer for high Voc a-Si:H solar cells ................................. 75 6.3.3 p-SiOx as p-layer for high Voc a-Si:H solar cells ........................................... 77 6.3.4 Growth character of p-SiOx materials and the relationship with solar cell performance .............................................................................................................. 80 6.3.5 Performance improvement with p-SiOx window layer in high Voc a-Si:H solar cells ................................................................................................................... 83 6.3.6. Applications of the p-SiOx window layer in multijunction solar cells .... 84 6.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 87 References ........................................................................................................................ 87 Chapter 7 Highly transparent modulated-surface-textured front electrodes for multijunction thin-film silicon solar cells ............................................................................. 91 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 92 7.2 Experiments ............................................................................................................... 93 7.2.1 Fabrication of highly transparent modulated-surface-textured front electrodes ................................................................................................................... 93 7.2.2 Fabrication and characterization of thin-film silicon solar cells ................ 94 7.3 Results and discussion ............................................................................................. 95 7.3.1 Optimization of micro-textured glass for nc-Si:H solar cells ..................... 95 7.3.2 Choice of transparent conductive oxides for front electrodes ................... 99 7.3.3 Growth of high-performance a-Si:H solar cells on modulated-surface- textured front electrodes........................................................................................ 100 7.3.4 Modulated-surface-textured