Damp heat related degradation mechanisms within CIGS solar cells

Conference paper (2016)

Authors

M.J. Theelen TNO/Solliance
Frank de Graaf TNO/Solliance
F. Daume Solarion AG
N. Barreau Université de Nantes
Z. Vroon TNO/Solliance
M. Zeman Electrical Sustainable Energy
Research Group
Photovoltaic Materials and Devices (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
Al Stability Modules Solar cells CIGS Molybdenum Damp heat ZnO Humidity
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Electrical Sustainable Energy

Research Group

Photovoltaic Materials and Devices

Abstract

Degradation rates and mechanisms for molybdenum back contacts and ZnO:Al front contacts exposed to damp heat were obtained from literature and experiments. It was found that molybdenum back contacts with a higher density and covered by a MoSe2 film are more stable than their low density, bare counterparts. For ZnO:Al front contacts, various material changes, including thickness, deposition temperatures and doping concentration increase as well as post-deposition treatments can lead to a more stable material. Moreover, the degradation rate of encapsulated and non-encapsulated CIGS solar cells and modules exposed to damp heat were determined It was observed that in general, exposure to damp heat led to a reduction in efficiency, mostly caused by a reduction in Voc and FF. However, it was found that very large differences exist between samples.