Synergistic Light–Heat–Bias Activation for 21%-Efficient CdSeTe Thin-Film Solar Cells

作者：Jinjie Wu, Yanjie Gan, Jiao Liu, Yu Su, Yiliang Zhou, Meixiu Wan, Hongbing Zhu, Fei Guo, Ganhua Fu, Yaohua Mai, Kai Shen · 发表于：ACS Energy Letters · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acsenergylett.5c03194 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films、Quantum Dots Synthesis And Properties、TiO2 Photocatalysis and Solar Cells

Metastable responses to illumination, temperature, electrical bias, and exposure history complicate the performance assessment and reliability in CdTe thin-film photovoltaics. Here, we demonstrate a synergistic light–heat–bias (L–H–B) activation that reproducibly boosts the performance of graded CdSeTe devices. L–H–B suppresses nonradiative recombination at the illuminated front interface and within the absorber, coincident with deactivation of dominant shallow traps near E V + 0.35 eV and reduced occupancy of midgap states around E V + 0.76–0.79 eV. These changes mitigate defect-mediated Shockley–Read–Hall losses and increase open-circuit voltage and fill factor, yielding a champion efficiency of 21.02%─among the highest reported for CdSeTe thin-film solar cells. Specifically, the response is reversible after dark storage, recoverable upon reactivation, and not Cu-specific, generalizing to group-V-doped devices. The protocol provides an operational, standardizable preconditioning route for performance activation and reliable benchmarking.