TY - JOUR
T1 - Predicting Solar Cell Performance from Terahertz and Microwave Spectroscopy
AU - Hempel, Hannes
AU - Savenjie, Tom J.
AU - Stolterfoht, Martin
AU - Neu, Jens
AU - Failla, Michele
AU - Paingad, Vaisakh C.
AU - Kužel, Petr
AU - Zhao, Jiashang
AU - Siebbeles, Laurens D.A.
AU - More Authors, null
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Mobilities and lifetimes of photogenerated charge carriers are core properties of photovoltaic materials and can both be characterized by contactless terahertz or microwave measurements. Here, the expertise from fifteen laboratories is combined to quantitatively model the current-voltage characteristics of a solar cell from such measurements. To this end, the impact of measurement conditions, alternate interpretations, and experimental inter-laboratory variations are discussed using a (Cs,FA,MA)Pb(I,Br)3 halide perovskite thin-film as a case study. At 1 sun equivalent excitation, neither transport nor recombination is significantly affected by exciton formation or trapping. Terahertz, microwave, and photoluminescence transients for the neat material yield consistent effective lifetimes implying a resistance-free JV-curve with a potential power conversion efficiency of 24.6 %. For grainsizes above ≈20 nm, intra-grain charge transport is characterized by terahertz sum mobilities of ≈32 cm2 V−1 s−1. Drift-diffusion simulations indicate that these intra-grain mobilities can slightly reduce the fill factor of perovskite solar cells to 0.82, in accordance with the best-realized devices in the literature. Beyond perovskites, this work can guide a highly predictive characterization of any emerging semiconductor for photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical energy conversion. A best practice for the interpretation of terahertz and microwave measurements on photovoltaic materials is presented.
AB - Mobilities and lifetimes of photogenerated charge carriers are core properties of photovoltaic materials and can both be characterized by contactless terahertz or microwave measurements. Here, the expertise from fifteen laboratories is combined to quantitatively model the current-voltage characteristics of a solar cell from such measurements. To this end, the impact of measurement conditions, alternate interpretations, and experimental inter-laboratory variations are discussed using a (Cs,FA,MA)Pb(I,Br)3 halide perovskite thin-film as a case study. At 1 sun equivalent excitation, neither transport nor recombination is significantly affected by exciton formation or trapping. Terahertz, microwave, and photoluminescence transients for the neat material yield consistent effective lifetimes implying a resistance-free JV-curve with a potential power conversion efficiency of 24.6 %. For grainsizes above ≈20 nm, intra-grain charge transport is characterized by terahertz sum mobilities of ≈32 cm2 V−1 s−1. Drift-diffusion simulations indicate that these intra-grain mobilities can slightly reduce the fill factor of perovskite solar cells to 0.82, in accordance with the best-realized devices in the literature. Beyond perovskites, this work can guide a highly predictive characterization of any emerging semiconductor for photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical energy conversion. A best practice for the interpretation of terahertz and microwave measurements on photovoltaic materials is presented.
KW - lifetime
KW - microwaves
KW - mobility
KW - solar cells
KW - terahertz
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125913351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/aenm.202102776
DO - 10.1002/aenm.202102776
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85125913351
SN - 1614-6832
VL - 12
JO - Advanced Energy Materials
JF - Advanced Energy Materials
IS - 13
M1 - 2102776
ER -