Solar cells

Inorganic solar cells are often manufactured as polycrystalline materials, including silicon, Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTS), CdTe, CuInxGa_(1-x)Se (CIGS) and a host of materials with perovskite structure. In several cases, otherwise promising sustainable materials with high theoretical efficiency are held back by the detrimental effect of secondary phases and defects that hampers their power conversion efficiency. The 3D methodologies developed in SOLID gives a unique opportunity to map out the occurrence of such impurities and defects and understand their impact on the solar cell performance. This theme is supported by an ERC consolidator grant, a Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Network and a Villum grant amongst others.

In 2023 a study have been published at the journal Advanced science. The name of the article is 3D and Multimodal X-Ray Microscopy Reveals the Impact of Voids in CIGS Solar Cells and it is made with collaboration of Jens W. Andreasen. For visualization is used ptychographic X-ray computed tomography (PXCT)  which have been applied on a thin film solar cells with a CuIn_xGa_(1-x)Se₂ (CIGS). On the figure below can be seen a depth information retrieved using this method.