Enhancement of short-circuit current density in silicon heterojunction solar cells by hydrogenated multiple-doped In2O3 thin films

• Published in: Solar energy materials and solar cells Vol. 267; p. 112727
• Main Authors: Chen, Shuyi, Shi, Jianhua, Yao, Yuan, Yan, Zhu, Ren, Jiawen, Luo, Yunren, Du, Junlin, Shi, Qiang, Zhao, Dongming, Yu, Xiangrui, Huang, Haiwei, Fu, Haoxin, Fan, Bin, Han, Anjun, Wang, Guangyuan, Liu, Wenzhu, Zhang, Liping, Liu, Zhengxin, Meng, Fanying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-04-2024
• Subjects: Hydrogenated transparent conductive oxide; Optical-electrical characteristics; SHJ solar cells; Short-circuit current density; Optical-electrical characteristics; Hydrogenated transparent conductive oxide; Short-circuit current density; SHJ solar cells
• ISSN: 0927-0248; 1879-3398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2024.112727

Boosting short-circuit current density (JSC) is crucial to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Herein, hydrogenated W, Mo, Ti, Zr, and Ga-doped indium oxide (IMO:H) films are explored and the structural and optical-electrical characteristics were optimized with the gas flow rate ratio of hydrogen and total gas flow rate. IMO:H films exhibit preferential orientation growth in direction and a distinct shift to higher 2θ with the addition hydrogen is observed due to the size mismatch between doped ions and In ions. Furthermore, the carrier concentration of IMO:H films is decreased due to the substitution of oxygen vacancies by hydrogen, leading to the decrement of free carrier absorption and a 1.25%abs increase of effective total transmittance is obtained in the region from 600 to 1200 nm. Additionally, the mobility of IMO:H films enhances to 67.31 cm2V−1s−1 with optimized resistivity of 2.59 × 10−4 Ω cm ascribing to the reduction of ionized impurity scattering centers provided by oxygen vacancies. When using IMO:H films as rear electrode in industrial solar cells, a 0.35 mA/cm2 absolute increase of average JSC and a 0.33%abs increase in average fill factor is acquired, respectively. Finally, an average PCE gain of 0.18%abs is come through and the champion cell shows PCE of 23.81 %. This work clearly interprets the functions of hydrogen in IMO:H films and offers a valid guidance to optimize of high-efficiency SHJ solar cells.
•Hydrogenated In2O3-based oxide thin films are applied in SHJ solar cells.•Hydrogen is to optimize the optical and electrical properties of TCO films.•Hydrogenated films contribute to the enhancement of JSC.•23.81 % high-efficiency SHJ solar cells with back side hydrogenated films.