Cd-alloyed CZTS absorber

FF boosted to 71%

Cd incorporation simultaneously suppresses defect recombination and back-contact barriers, markedly enhancing fill factor in pure sulfide kesterite solar cells.

Qiang, Zhu · Chen, Xin · Yan-Yan, Wang · Mingyue, Long · Chen, Rui · Lin, Qianqian · Zhang, Yuanyuan · Yue, Fangyu · Li, Hao · Chen, Ye · Chu, Junhao · Sun, Lin

Small 2026

Specifications

Fill factor (Cd-alloyed)

{'zh': '65.2', 'en': '65.2'} %

Power conversion efficiency (Cd-alloyed)

{'zh': '12.1', 'en': '12.1'} %

Fill factor (Ag-alloyed)

{'zh': '71', 'en': '71'} %

Advantages

Efficiency markedly boosted

Cd incorporation raises FF from 53.9% to 65.2% and efficiency from 7.3% to 12.1%.

Record fill factor

Ag incorporation further boosts FF to 71%, among the highest reported for pure sulfide kesterite solar cells.

Losses quantitatively disentangled

An integrated experimental-simulation framework decomposes FF losses into defect-mediated recombination, back-contact barriers, and extraction inefficiencies.

Generalizable diagnostic framework

The framework is validated with Ag incorporation and is generalizable to other complex multinary semiconductors.

Applications

• thin-film solar cells：Provides solution-processed absorber with 71% FF for low-cost thin-film modules.
• photovoltaic materials：Demonstrates alloying strategy to suppress defects and interfaces for better PV materials.
• photoelectrochemical cells：The diagnostic framework can be extended to interfaces in photoelectrochemical cells.
• optoelectronic devices：Offers quantitative loss decomposition tool for optoelectronic devices based on multinary semiconductors.