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Grain boundary strain localization in a CdTe solar cell revealed by scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy

Shukla, Aditya ; Wright, Jon ; Henningsson, Axel LU ; Stieglitz, Hergen ; Colegrove, Eric ; Besley, Luke ; Baur, Christian ; De Angelis, Salvatore ; Stuckelberger, Michael and Poulsen, Henning Friis , et al. (2024) In Journal of Materials Chemistry A 12(27). p.16793-16802
Abstract

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology is a promising candidate to help boost green energy production. However, impurities and structural defects are major barriers to improving the solar power conversion efficiency. Grain boundaries often act as aggregation sites for impurities, resulting in strain localization in areas of high diffusion. In this study, we demonstrate the use of scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy to non-destructively make 3D maps of the grains - their phase, orientation, and local strain - within a CdTe solar cell absorber layer with a resolution of 100 nm. We quantify twin boundaries and suggest how they affect grain size and orientation distribution. Local strain analysis reveals that strain is... (More)

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology is a promising candidate to help boost green energy production. However, impurities and structural defects are major barriers to improving the solar power conversion efficiency. Grain boundaries often act as aggregation sites for impurities, resulting in strain localization in areas of high diffusion. In this study, we demonstrate the use of scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy to non-destructively make 3D maps of the grains - their phase, orientation, and local strain - within a CdTe solar cell absorber layer with a resolution of 100 nm. We quantify twin boundaries and suggest how they affect grain size and orientation distribution. Local strain analysis reveals that strain is primarily associated with high misorientation grain boundaries, whereas twin boundaries do not have high strain values. We also observe that high-strain grain boundaries form a continuous pathway connected to the CdS layer. Hence, this high-strain region is believed to be associated with the diffusion of sulfur from the CdS layer along grain boundaries. This hypothesis is supported by SEM-EDS and X-ray fluorescence experiments. The method and analysis demonstrated in this work can be applied to different polycrystalline materials where the characterization of grain boundary properties is essential to understand the microstructural phenomena.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
volume
12
issue
27
pages
10 pages
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • scopus:85196285055
ISSN
2050-7488
DOI
10.1039/d4ta01799d
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
25a32a54-8b8b-4d84-aa38-a691d905979e
date added to LUP
2024-09-11 11:59:20
date last changed
2024-09-11 11:59:20
@article{25a32a54-8b8b-4d84-aa38-a691d905979e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology is a promising candidate to help boost green energy production. However, impurities and structural defects are major barriers to improving the solar power conversion efficiency. Grain boundaries often act as aggregation sites for impurities, resulting in strain localization in areas of high diffusion. In this study, we demonstrate the use of scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy to non-destructively make 3D maps of the grains - their phase, orientation, and local strain - within a CdTe solar cell absorber layer with a resolution of 100 nm. We quantify twin boundaries and suggest how they affect grain size and orientation distribution. Local strain analysis reveals that strain is primarily associated with high misorientation grain boundaries, whereas twin boundaries do not have high strain values. We also observe that high-strain grain boundaries form a continuous pathway connected to the CdS layer. Hence, this high-strain region is believed to be associated with the diffusion of sulfur from the CdS layer along grain boundaries. This hypothesis is supported by SEM-EDS and X-ray fluorescence experiments. The method and analysis demonstrated in this work can be applied to different polycrystalline materials where the characterization of grain boundary properties is essential to understand the microstructural phenomena.</p>}},
  author       = {{Shukla, Aditya and Wright, Jon and Henningsson, Axel and Stieglitz, Hergen and Colegrove, Eric and Besley, Luke and Baur, Christian and De Angelis, Salvatore and Stuckelberger, Michael and Poulsen, Henning Friis and Andreasen, Jens Wenzel}},
  issn         = {{2050-7488}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{27}},
  pages        = {{16793--16802}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Journal of Materials Chemistry A}},
  title        = {{Grain boundary strain localization in a CdTe solar cell revealed by scanning 3D X-ray diffraction microscopy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d4ta01799d}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/d4ta01799d}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}