Influence of an Sb doping layer in CIGS thin-film solar cells: a photoluminescence study

Sb doping of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells has been reported to exhibit a positive effect on the morphology of the absorber layer, offering a possibility to lower manufacturing cost by lowering the annealing temperatures during the CIGS deposition. In this work electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and photoluminescence experiments have been performed on cells deposited on soda-lime glass substrates, adding a thin Sb layer onto the Mo back contact prior to the CIGS absorber deposition. The defect structure of CIGS solar cells doped with Sb in this way has been investigated and is compared with that of undoped reference cells. The influence of substrate temperature during absorber growth has also been evaluated. For all samples the photoluminescence results can be explained by considering three donor–acceptor pair recombination processes involving the same defect pairs

Designing CIGS solar cells with front-side point contacts

In this work we show how 2D numerical simulations can be used to design and optimize front-side point contacts in surface-passivated CIGS cells. Detailed analysis of the combinations of passivation thickness, point contact size and pitch can help identifying solutions able to boost the performance of otherwise surface-limited cells: efficiencies close to those of cells with ideal (i.e., trap-free) CdS/CIGS interface can be achieved by the optimization of point contact features in the low nm range. The effect of varying the CIGS and CdS doping densities on the cell performance has also been analyzed

Electronic defect study on low temperature processed Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells and the influence of an Sb layer

A way to lower the manufacturing cost of Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells is to use flexible polymer substrates instead of rigid glass. Because such substrates require lower temperature during absorber deposition, the grain growth of the absorber layer can be hindered which leads to a lower cell performance. Partial compensation of this efficiency loss might be accomplished by growing the absorber in the presence of Sb, which is reported to promote grain growth. In this work CIGS solar cells, deposited on glass substrates, at a reduced substrate temperature with a thin Sb layer (7, 12 nm) on top of the Mo contact are investigated. The diffusion profile of Sb is measured with plasma profiling time of flight mass spectrometry. The beneficial effect of Sb on efficiency and grain size is shown in quantum efficiency measurements and with scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Electric spectroscopy is used to explore the possible effects on the defect structure, more in particular on the dominant shallow acceptor. Admittance spectra exhibit a capacitance step to the geometric capacitance plateau at low temperature (5-60 K). Analyzing this capacitance step, we obtained a good estimate of the activation energy of the intrinsic defects that provide the p-type conductivity of the CIGS absorber. The measurements did not show a change in the nature of the dominant acceptor upon Sb treatment

Band gap widening at random CIGS grain boundary detected by valence electron energy loss spectroscopy

Cu(In,Ga) Se₂ (CIGS) thin film solar cells have demonstrated very high efficiencies, but still the role of nanoscale inhomogeneities in CIGS and their impact on the solar cell performance are not yet clearly understood. Due to the polycrystalline structure of CIGS, grain boundaries are very common structural defects that are also accompanied by compositional variations. In this work, we apply valence electron energy loss spectroscopy in scanning transmission electron microscopy to study the local band gap energy at a grain boundary in the CIGS absorber layer. Based on this example, we demonstrate the capabilities of a 2nd generation monochromator that provides a very high energy resolution and allows for directly relating the chemical composition and the band gap energy across the grain boundary. A band gap widening of about 20 meV is observed at the grain boundary. Furthermore, the compositional analysis by core-loss EELS reveals an enrichment of In together with a Cu, Ga and Se depletion at the same area. The experimentally obtained results can therefore be well explained by the presence of a valence band barrier at the grain boundary

Réponse des fibroblastes humains dermiques normaux en culture à de très faibles débits de dose d'irradiation chronique

Des fibroblastes dermiques humains en culture ont été irradiés par une source de 60Co (débit de dose 6,25 mGy / jour) et exposés pendant 8 jours (dose absorbée totale 50 mGy). La prolifération, les teneurs en protéines et ADN n'ont pas été modifiées sous irradiation. Le potentiel transmembranaire de 200 cellules était comparable dans les cellules irradiées (9,4 ± 4,9 eV) et les cellules témoins (10,2 ± 2,0 eV). Les dosages de l'activité de la glucose-6-phosphate deshydrogénase (G6P-DH, enzyme-clé de la voie des pentoses phosphates) de la glycéraldéhyde-3-phosphate deshydrogénase (GAP-DH) et de la pyruvate kinase (enzyme-clé de la glycolyse), ont montré que cette irradiation chronique n'induisait pas de changement de l'activité de la G6P-DH. Au contraire, les activités de la GAP-DH et de la pyruvate kinase étaient significativement - mais transitoirement - inhibées (jusqu'à 25 %) au début de la phase exponentielle de croissance (4e, 5e jour). L'activité catalasique (enzyme de destruction de l'H2O2) ne fut pas significativement modifiée sous irradiation. Une corrélation a été observée entre l'augmentation de l'activité catalasique globale dans les cultures et la restauration d'une activité normale de la GAP-DH, probablement en rapport avec une diminution de l'oxydation des groupements SH

Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol anti-inflammatory activity on adult articular cartilage.

The mono- and the digalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG and DGDG) galactolipids with a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, mainly omega-3, have been purified from the thermophilic blue-green alga ETS-05 that colonises the therapeutic thermal mud of Abano and Montegrotto, Italy. The therapeutic thermal mud is applied mostly to osteoarthritic cartilage patients. In the present study, a possible anti-inflammatory function of MGDG in cartilage has been studied in the avian articular cartilage model. We report that, in response to an inflammatory stimulus, adult avian articular cartilage cells express inflammation- related proteins, such as the lipocalin extracellular fatty acid binding protein, Avidin and Serum Amyloid A. The treatment of avian articular chondrocytes with the galactolipid MGDG suppressed the expression of the inflammation- induced proteins, suggesting a strong anti-inflammatory property of MGDG. MGDG has, in addition, a cell anti-proliferative activity, but it does not interfere with cell differentiation, suggesting a protective role for articular cartilage