Sb-doped Tin Oxide Thin Film: Preparation and Effect on Cooling Silicon Solar Cells

doi:10.15541/jim20180302

Abstract

Abstract:

Silicon-based solar cells occupy the largest share of photovoltaic industry, but their efficiency decreases due to the high operating temperatures under sunlight, which reduces their power output. Thus, cooling the silicon based solar cells under irradiation is very important. In this study, Sb-doped tin oxide ATO thin films, working as the cover plate of silicon-based solar cells, were deposited on glass substrates by Sol-Gel spin-coating method, with SnCl₂·H₂O and SbCl₃ as raw materials. Influence of Sb doping and film thickness on the heat shielding property and the performance of solar cells were investigated. As a result, the shielding performance of the ATO films was improved with the increase of the thickness, while its transmittance reduces with the increase of the thickness. Compared with ordinary glass cells, temperature of solar cells with spin-coated ATO thin films of 1 to 4 layers decreases by 2.7 ℃, and their efficiency keeps over 10.79% after being irradiated by AM1.5 solar simulator for 30 min. What’s more, the ATO doped with 10mol% Sb performs the best thermal insulation. Efficiency of silicon solar cell covered with 10mol% Sb-doped ATO film increases by 0.43% as compared with blank after being irradiated by solar simulator for 30 min.

Key words: Sb-doped tin oxide, infrared shielding films, cooling, silicon solar cell

CLC Number:

TQ174

Ce LI, Shuang CHEN, Rui-Qian-Ling GAO, Ran LI, Cheng-Yi HOU, Hong-Zhi WANG, Hua-Qing XIE, Qing-Hong ZHANG. Sb-doped Tin Oxide Thin Film: Preparation and Effect on Cooling Silicon Solar Cells[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2019, 34(5): 515-520.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 (a) Heat insulation principles of ATO thin films, (b) deposition schematic of ATO thin films, (c) TEM image of ATO sol, and (d) XRD patterns of sol and ATO thin films with different layers

Fig. 2 FESEM images of 10mol% ATO thin film with (a) 2 layers, (b) 3 layers, (c) 5 layers, and (d) 7 layer

Fig. 3 Optical transmission spectra of ATO films with different layers

Fig. 4 (a) Temperature-time curves and (b) efficiency-time curves of the silicon solar cell with different ATO layers irradiated by solar simulator within 30 min

Fig. 5 XRD patterns of ATO films doped with different nominal Sb

Fig. 6 (a) Optical transmission spectra and (b) Tauc plots of the (αhν)2 versus hν curves of ATO films doped with different Sb contents

Fig. 7 XPS spectra of ATO films doped with different Sb contents

Fig. 8 (a) Temperature-time curves and (b) efficiency-time curves of the silicon solar cell with three ATO layers doped with different Sb contents and irradiated by solar simulator within 30 min

References 20

[1]	GUO R, HUANG H, CHEN X , et al. Recent advances of optical and electrical simulations in plasmonic silicon-based thin solar cell. Electronic Components and Materials, 2014,33(2):10-15.
[2]	SKOPLAKI E, PALYVOS J . On the temperature dependence of photovoltaic module electrical performance: a review of efficiency/power correlations. Sol. Energy, 2009,83(5):614-624. DOI URL
[3]	ZHANG C, LI Y, LI X , et al. Research on cooling technology for solar photovoltaic cells. Building Energy & Environment, 2017,36(10):85-87.
[4]	AKBARZADEH A, WADOWSKI T . Heat pipe-based cooling systems for photovoltaic cells under concentrated solar radiation. Appl. Therm. Eng., 1996,16(1):81-87. DOI URL
[5]	TANG X, QUAN Z, ZHAO Y . Experimental investigation of solar panel cooling by a novel micro heat pipe array. Energy Power Eng., 2010,10:171-174.
[6]	ABDOLZADEH M, AMERI M . Improving the effectiveness of a photovoltaic water pumping system by spraying water over the front of photovoltaic cells. Renew Energy, 2009,34(1):91-96. DOI URL
[7]	KRAUTER S . Increased electrical yield via water flow over the front of photovoltaic panels. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 2004,82(1/2):131-137.
[8]	WANG Y, FANG Z, ZHU L , et al. The performance of silicon solar cells operated in liquids. .Appl Energy, 2009,86(7/8):1037-1042. DOI URL
[9]	HAN X, WANG Y, ZHU L . Electrical and thermal performance of silicon concentrator solar cells immersed in dielectric liquids. . Appl Energy, 2011,88(12):4481-4489. DOI URL
[10]	ZHU L, RAMAN A, WANG K , et al. Radiative cooling of solar cells. Optica, 2014,1(1):32-38. DOI URL
[11]	ZHU L, RAMAN A, FAN S . Radiative cooling of solar absorbers using a visibly transparent photonic crystal thermal blackbody. PNAS, 2015,112(40):12282-12287. DOI URL PMID
[12]	ABENDROTH T, SCHUMM B, ALAJLAN A , et al. Optical and thermal properties of transparent infrared blocking antimony doped tin oxide thin films. Thin Solid Films, 2017,624(28):152-159. DOI URL
[13]	WU K, XIANG S, ZHI W , et al. Preparation and characterization of UV curable waterborne poly (urethane-acrylate)/antimony doped tin oxide thermal insulation coatings by Sol-Gel process. Prog. Org. Coat., 2017,113:39-46.
[14]	LI S, ZHU P, ZHAO T , et al. Optical, electrical, and thermal insulation properties of antimony doped tin oxide nanoparticles prepared by frozen gel method.[J]. Sol-Gel Sci. Technol., 2014,70(3):366-370. DOI URL
[15]	NÜTZ T, FELDE U, HAASE M . Wet-chemical synjournal of doped nanoparticles: blue-colored colloids of n-doped SnO₂: Sb.[J]. Chem. Phys., 1999,110:12142-12150. DOI URL
[16]	XU J, LI L, WANG S , et al. Influence of Sb doping on the structural and optical properties of tin oxide nanocrystals. Cryst. Eng. Comm., 2013,15(17):3296-3300. DOI URL
[17]	LI N, MENG Q, ZHANG N . Dispersion stabilization of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles used for energy-efficient glass coating. Particuology, 2014,17:49-53. DOI URL
[18]	WANG L, HANG J, SHI L , et al. Preparation and characterization of NIR cutoff antimony doped tin oxide/hybrid silica coatings. Mater. Lett., 2012,87(4114):35-38. DOI URL
[19]	MEI S, MA W, ZHANG G , et al. Transparent ATO/epoxy nanocomposite coating with excellent thermal insulation property. Micro Nano Lett., 2012,7(1):12-14. DOI URL
[20]	FALLAH H, GHASEMI H, HASSANZADEH A , et al. The effect of annealing on structural, electrical and optical properties of nanostructured ITO films prepared by e-beam evaporation. Mater. Res. Bull., 2007,42(3):487-496. DOI URL