Electrodeposition of thin-film cells containing non-toxic elements

摘要

A structure and method of making a thin-film solar cell is provided. A thin-film solar cell includes a substrate, absorber layer and a buffer layer. The absorber layer is deposited by a single-step bulk electrochemical process, or a multi-layer electrochemical process. The buffer layer is deposited by an electrochemical deposition process such as a multi-layer deposition or an atomic layer deposition. The absorber and buffer layers are non-toxic materials which can include sulfur incorporated during the deposition process or incorporated after deposition by an anneal step.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a thin-film cell, the method comprising:
providing a substrate; depositing an absorber layer onto the substrate; and depositing a buffer layer onto the absorber layer, wherein the absorber layer and the buffer layer are made from non-toxic materials; wherein the depositing the absorber layer and the buffer layer is performed using an electrochemical atomic layer deposition process carried out under illumination so as to excite electrons from a valence band to a conduction band, wherein the electrons at an edge of the conduction band at a solid/liquid interface are energetically higher than that of a redox potential of S2O32−/ZnS; and wherein the electrochemical deposition process for depositing the buffer layer is carried out by: filling a cell with a solution comprising: SnCl2; Na2S2O3; and about 0.2 mM of tartaric acid; adjusting a pH of the solution to about 2.5; adjusting a temperature of the solution to about 70 degrees Celsius; exposing the absorber layer to a light source; and applying a voltage to the substrate of about −0.8 V with reference to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode to produce a thin-film of SnS.