| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T24: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
2024 Undergraduate Student Poster Contest
|
| Presentation Title |
SPU-26: Lifetime Analysis of Unencapsulated Solar Cell Passivation Layers |
| Author(s) |
Jonah Gezelter, Marina Kamperai, Gray Thomas, Sophia Buffone, Nqobile Tshuma, Diego Zubieta Sempertegui, Mirra Rasmussen, Andrew Lininger, Ina Martin, Laura Bruckman |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jonah Gezelter |
| Abstract Scope |
Passivation of c-Si is a key materials challenge in engineering high efficiency c-Si solar cells. Advanced technologies use different material combinations for front passivation of c-Si: the market-dominant PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell) uses SiNx; TOPCon devices make use of an Al2O3 layer capped with SiNx; and Silicon heterojunctions use layers of a-Si:H. The inclusion of different materials for the passivation layers can lead to different degradation pathways. This work isolates the contribution of solar cells to the degradation of the modules, by exposing unencapsulated solar cells with state-of-the-art architectures to different accelerated aging conditions that mix and match components of real-world degradation. Samples were characterized to monitor and quantify the degradation of the exposed cells throughout the exposure. The metrics from characterization are then evaluated across cell architectures to compare their performance over time. |