Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627664
Nur Najiha Binti Ahmad Rasid;Nur Wardina Syahirah Binti Mohamad Fadil;Peng Gao;Abd. Rashid Bin Mohd Yusoff
Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are well known as a promising strategy for enhancing the efficiency, stability, and interfacial properties of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). These molecular layers, typically formed through surface binding between electrode surfaces, enable fine-tuning of surface energetics, promote uniform film formation, and suppress interfacial recombination. Lead (Pb)-halide perovskite systems are renowned for their remarkable power conversion efficiencies, with SAMs playing a crucial role in optimizing charge extraction and mitigating degradation pathways. This review explores recent advancements in SAM-functionalized interfaces, particularly focusing on their chemical structure, anchoring groups, electronic alignment, and compatibility with perovskite and charge transport layers. We also highlight the comparative performance of SAM-modified PSCs, discuss current challenges, and suggest future directions for material innovation and device engineering.
{"title":"Advancements in Self-Assembled Monolayers for Perovskite Solar Cells","authors":"Nur Najiha Binti Ahmad Rasid;Nur Wardina Syahirah Binti Mohamad Fadil;Peng Gao;Abd. Rashid Bin Mohd Yusoff","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627664","url":null,"abstract":"Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are well known as a promising strategy for enhancing the efficiency, stability, and interfacial properties of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). These molecular layers, typically formed through surface binding between electrode surfaces, enable fine-tuning of surface energetics, promote uniform film formation, and suppress interfacial recombination. Lead (Pb)-halide perovskite systems are renowned for their remarkable power conversion efficiencies, with SAMs playing a crucial role in optimizing charge extraction and mitigating degradation pathways. This review explores recent advancements in SAM-functionalized interfaces, particularly focusing on their chemical structure, anchoring groups, electronic alignment, and compatibility with perovskite and charge transport layers. We also highlight the comparative performance of SAM-modified PSCs, discuss current challenges, and suggest future directions for material innovation and device engineering.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"3-17"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627676
Y. Tang;S. Poddar;M. Kay;F. E. Rougieux
A small number of photovoltaic modules degrade far more rapidly than average, creating a “long tail” in degradation rate distribution that poses a critical challenge to the reliability and financial viability of solar projects. This study investigates the factors contributing to this phenomenon by analyzing a large global dataset from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Our analysis reveals that the long tail is an intrinsic and composite feature of module degradation, not merely a statistical consequence of combining different climates. We identify at least three distinct pathways that could contribute to its formation. The first is accelerated degradation driven by strong statistical associations between different degradation modes, where the interplay of mechanisms appears to be a primary contributor of the most severely degraded modules. The second is rapid early-life failure (infant mortality), which populates the tail with modules likely containing initial manufacturing or material defects. The third is failure of individual latent defects, such as solder fatigue or cell cracks, which can cause sudden severe performance loss at random points in a module's life. Based on our results, we suggest that efforts should be made to understand and mitigate the interaction between associated degradation modes. For instance, the careful selection of key components, such as backsheet, is crucial as it could initiate multiple pathways of degradation.
{"title":"Understanding and Reducing the Risk of Extreme Photovoltaic Degradation","authors":"Y. Tang;S. Poddar;M. Kay;F. E. Rougieux","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3627676","url":null,"abstract":"A small number of photovoltaic modules degrade far more rapidly than average, creating a “long tail” in degradation rate distribution that poses a critical challenge to the reliability and financial viability of solar projects. This study investigates the factors contributing to this phenomenon by analyzing a large global dataset from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Our analysis reveals that the long tail is an intrinsic and composite feature of module degradation, not merely a statistical consequence of combining different climates. We identify at least three distinct pathways that could contribute to its formation. The first is accelerated degradation driven by strong statistical associations between different degradation modes, where the interplay of mechanisms appears to be a primary contributor of the most severely degraded modules. The second is rapid early-life failure (infant mortality), which populates the tail with modules likely containing initial manufacturing or material defects. The third is failure of individual latent defects, such as solder fatigue or cell cracks, which can cause sudden severe performance loss at random points in a module's life. Based on our results, we suggest that efforts should be made to understand and mitigate the interaction between associated degradation modes. For instance, the careful selection of key components, such as backsheet, is crucial as it could initiate multiple pathways of degradation.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"150-159"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633076
Bin Du;Gregory A. Manoukian;Harvey Guthrey;Aayush Nahar;António J. N. Oliveira;Kevin D. Dobson;Brian McCandless;Aaron Arehart;Jason B. Baxter;William N. Shafarman
In this study, we developed a new method for in situ Sb doping of CdTe thin films combining vapor transport deposition with a Group V pyrolyzer to address Sb doping concentration and doping efficiency. The Sb doped CdSeTe (CdSeTe:Sb) films were deposited in solar cell structures under variations of Sb dopant source heater, vapor pyrolyzer temperature, and Cd vapor excess. Results indicate that although these parameters do not affect the CdTe morphology or crystal structure, they critically influence doping efficiency and trap concentration. Capacitance–voltage measurements show that a higher dopant heater (TD) or pyrolyzer (TP) temperature leads to higher net carrier concentration, achieving a net carrier concentration of 1016 cm−3 and 20% doping efficiency with a TD/TP combination of 600 °C/1100 °C. By tuning the Cd/Sb flux ratio during CdSeTe:Sb deposition, the lowest defect concentration is achieved at Cd/Sb of 1.4:1, which produced the best VOC CdSeTe:Sb cell. This demonstrates a path to produce high net carrier concentration polycrystalline CdTe thin film with a low concentration of dopant-induced defects.
{"title":"Pyrolyzer Assisted Vapor Transport Deposition of Antimony-Doped Cadmium Telluride","authors":"Bin Du;Gregory A. Manoukian;Harvey Guthrey;Aayush Nahar;António J. N. Oliveira;Kevin D. Dobson;Brian McCandless;Aaron Arehart;Jason B. Baxter;William N. Shafarman","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633076","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we developed a new method for in situ Sb doping of CdTe thin films combining vapor transport deposition with a Group V pyrolyzer to address Sb doping concentration and doping efficiency. The Sb doped CdSeTe (CdSeTe:Sb) films were deposited in solar cell structures under variations of Sb dopant source heater, vapor pyrolyzer temperature, and Cd vapor excess. Results indicate that although these parameters do not affect the CdTe morphology or crystal structure, they critically influence doping efficiency and trap concentration. Capacitance–voltage measurements show that a higher dopant heater (T<sub>D</sub>) or pyrolyzer (T<sub>P</sub>) temperature leads to higher net carrier concentration, achieving a net carrier concentration of 10<sup>16</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup> and 20% doping efficiency with a T<sub>D</sub>/T<sub>P</sub> combination of 600 °C/1100 °C. By tuning the Cd/Sb flux ratio during CdSeTe:Sb deposition, the lowest defect concentration is achieved at Cd/Sb of 1.4:1, which produced the best V<sub>OC</sub> CdSeTe:Sb cell. This demonstrates a path to produce high net carrier concentration polycrystalline CdTe thin film with a low concentration of dopant-induced defects.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"88-97"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The degree of crosslinking in encapsulants is a critical parameter in photovoltaic (PV) module production, significantly influencing module performance and reliability. Despite its importance, the industry-standard Soxhlet extraction method for assessing crosslinking is offline, time-intensive, and unsuitable to implement for real-time process monitoring. This study explores the application of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a faster, nondestructive alternative for determining encapsulant crosslinking. Test laminates using an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant with varying crosslinking times were analyzed using both Soxhlet extraction and NIR spectroscopy. The NIR spectra were processed using multivariate data analysis methods for qualitative classification and quantitative prediction. The classification model demonstrated clear separation between encapsulants with high and low degrees of crosslinking. The prediction model achieved a high accuracy prediction of the degree of crosslinking. These findings highlight the potential of NIR spectroscopy for rapid, inline classification and quantification of encapsulant crosslinking. Future work will expand the calibration models to include polyolefin (POE) and co-extruded POE–EVA encapsulants to verify robustness across different chemistries, and optimizing measurement setups to accommodate double-glass module designs.
{"title":"New Rapid Method for Optical Nondestructive Determination of the Degree of Crosslinking of PV Module Encapsulants","authors":"Gernot Oreski;Márton Bredács;Sonja Feldbacher;Petra Christöfl;Jutta Geier;Chiara Barretta;Christian Camus;Enno Malguth;Adrian","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3635341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3635341","url":null,"abstract":"The degree of crosslinking in encapsulants is a critical parameter in photovoltaic (PV) module production, significantly influencing module performance and reliability. Despite its importance, the industry-standard Soxhlet extraction method for assessing crosslinking is offline, time-intensive, and unsuitable to implement for real-time process monitoring. This study explores the application of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a faster, nondestructive alternative for determining encapsulant crosslinking. Test laminates using an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant with varying crosslinking times were analyzed using both Soxhlet extraction and NIR spectroscopy. The NIR spectra were processed using multivariate data analysis methods for qualitative classification and quantitative prediction. The classification model demonstrated clear separation between encapsulants with high and low degrees of crosslinking. The prediction model achieved a high accuracy prediction of the degree of crosslinking. These findings highlight the potential of NIR spectroscopy for rapid, inline classification and quantification of encapsulant crosslinking. Future work will expand the calibration models to include polyolefin (POE) and co-extruded POE–EVA encapsulants to verify robustness across different chemistries, and optimizing measurement setups to accommodate double-glass module designs.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"33-38"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-27DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633056
Luming Zhou;Yahong Wang;Peng Ye;Junying Yu;Lin He;Chunlin Fu
The thickness of the light-absorbing layer and interface defects are the key factors affecting the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells. In this article, aiming at the problem of carrier recombination caused by the thickness of the light-absorbing layer and interface defects in infrared quantum dot/perovskite composite nanorod arrays, a strategy of synergistically optimizing the thickness of the quantum dot absorption layer and interface passivation performance by adjusting the concentration of PbS-PbI2 quantum dots is proposed. Experimental results indicate that quantum dot concentration significantly influences light-absorbing layer properties. At 40 mg/mL, the absorber layer thickness increases to 27.5 nm, interface defect density decreases, carrier transport efficiency improves, near-infrared light absorption enhances, and optimal photovoltaic performance is achieved (Jsc = 14.72 mA/cm2, PCE = 6.65%). When concentration exceeds 40 mg/mL, quantum dot agglomeration causes absorber thickness to sharply decrease to 20.5 nm, interface defect density increases, and both light absorption efficiency and photovoltaic performance decline (Jsc = 11.58 mA/cm2, PCE = 4.41%). Through XRD, SEM, and EIS characterization, it was found that at a concentration of 40 mg/mL, a moderate thickness of the light-absorbing layer improves the near-infrared light capture ability, effectively passivates the interface defects through the Pb2+-I- coordination bond, and optimizes the perovskite crystal quality and carrier kinetics. This article reveals the regulation of quantum dot concentration on device performance through the synergistic mechanism of “absorber layer thickness and interface defect-light absorption-photovoltaic performance,” which provides guidance for efficient interface engineering of the perovskite/quantum dot composite system.
{"title":"Quantum Dot Concentration-Mediated Synergistic Optimization of Absorber Thickness and Interface Defects in Infrared Quantum Dot/Perovskite Nanorod Array Solar Cells","authors":"Luming Zhou;Yahong Wang;Peng Ye;Junying Yu;Lin He;Chunlin Fu","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3633056","url":null,"abstract":"The thickness of the light-absorbing layer and interface defects are the key factors affecting the photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells. In this article, aiming at the problem of carrier recombination caused by the thickness of the light-absorbing layer and interface defects in infrared quantum dot/perovskite composite nanorod arrays, a strategy of synergistically optimizing the thickness of the quantum dot absorption layer and interface passivation performance by adjusting the concentration of PbS-PbI<sub>2</sub> quantum dots is proposed. Experimental results indicate that quantum dot concentration significantly influences light-absorbing layer properties. At 40 mg/mL, the absorber layer thickness increases to 27.5 nm, interface defect density decreases, carrier transport efficiency improves, near-infrared light absorption enhances, and optimal photovoltaic performance is achieved (<italic>J</i><sub>sc</sub> = 14.72 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>, PCE = 6.65%). When concentration exceeds 40 mg/mL, quantum dot agglomeration causes absorber thickness to sharply decrease to 20.5 nm, interface defect density increases, and both light absorption efficiency and photovoltaic performance decline (<italic>J</i><sub>sc</sub> = 11.58 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>, PCE = 4.41%). Through XRD, SEM, and EIS characterization, it was found that at a concentration of 40 mg/mL, a moderate thickness of the light-absorbing layer improves the near-infrared light capture ability, effectively passivates the interface defects through the Pb<sup>2+</sup>-I<sup>-</sup> coordination bond, and optimizes the perovskite crystal quality and carrier kinetics. This article reveals the regulation of quantum dot concentration on device performance through the synergistic mechanism of “absorber layer thickness and interface defect-light absorption-photovoltaic performance,” which provides guidance for efficient interface engineering of the perovskite/quantum dot composite system.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"81-87"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-24DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3622321
Zachary B. Leuty;William J. Weigand;Jorge Ochoa;Joe V. Carpenter;Mariana I. Bertoni;Zachary C. Holman
Polycrystalline silicon passivating contacts rely on an ultrathin (1–2 nm) silicon oxide layer to minimize recombination at the wafer/oxide interface and regulate dopant diffusion. Traditionally formed by thermal or chemical oxidation, this oxide is herein replaced by silicon oxide deposited via aerosol impact-driven assembly (AIDA), enabling high wafer-per-hour throughput and precise thickness control. In this study, we show that AIDA coatings conformally cover planar or textured substrates and achieve a SiOx/poly-Si(n) structure with an implied open-circuit voltage (iVoc = 726 mV) and contact saturation current density (J0 = 8.8 fA/cm2). Furthermore, annealing AIDA SiOx films at elevated temperatures desorbs hydroxyl groups while the stoichiometry transitions toward SiO2, improving passivation quality. Together, these results highlight AIDA’s potential for scalable, high-throughput manufacturing of advanced passivating contacts, offering a cost-effective alternative to conventional low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition-based silicon and oxide processes.
{"title":"High-Throughput In-Line Deposition of Silicon Oxide for Polycrystalline Silicon Passivating Contacts","authors":"Zachary B. Leuty;William J. Weigand;Jorge Ochoa;Joe V. Carpenter;Mariana I. Bertoni;Zachary C. Holman","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3622321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3622321","url":null,"abstract":"Polycrystalline silicon passivating contacts rely on an ultrathin (1–2 nm) silicon oxide layer to minimize recombination at the wafer/oxide interface and regulate dopant diffusion. Traditionally formed by thermal or chemical oxidation, this oxide is herein replaced by silicon oxide deposited via aerosol impact-driven assembly (AIDA), enabling high wafer-per-hour throughput and precise thickness control. In this study, we show that AIDA coatings conformally cover planar or textured substrates and achieve a SiO<sub>x</sub>/poly-Si(n) structure with an implied open-circuit voltage (iV<sub>oc</sub> = 726 mV) and contact saturation current density (J<sub>0</sub> = 8.8 fA/cm<sup>2</sup>). Furthermore, annealing AIDA SiO<sub>x</sub> films at elevated temperatures desorbs hydroxyl groups while the stoichiometry transitions toward SiO<sub>2</sub>, improving passivation quality. Together, these results highlight AIDA’s potential for scalable, high-throughput manufacturing of advanced passivating contacts, offering a cost-effective alternative to conventional low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition-based silicon and oxide processes.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"69-74"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-17DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625245
Nick Bosco;Martin Springer
In this work, we present a method to evaluate the equivalency between any module mechanical loading conditions. The method is developed to address the specific failure mode of glass fracture and is based on Weibull analysis and weakest link theory. It considers the varying stress profile across the module to calculate the probability of glass fracture, which is used as the metric of equivalency. An idealized nonuniform loading scheme is employed to demonstrate the method and introduce the concept of the equivalent uniform load factor: a factor applied to the maximum pressure of the nonuniform load to obtain the equivalent uniform load value. It is demonstrated that this factor is less than unity for all nonuniform load cases considered, including snow and various characters of wind loading. These significant results suggest that uniform loading may be reliably, and practically, employed to evaluate photovoltaic module glass for nonuniform loading durability.
{"title":"Uniform Mechanical Loading Can Test for Nonuniform Loading Durability","authors":"Nick Bosco;Martin Springer","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625245","url":null,"abstract":"In this work, we present a method to evaluate the equivalency between any module mechanical loading conditions. The method is developed to address the specific failure mode of glass fracture and is based on Weibull analysis and weakest link theory. It considers the varying stress profile across the module to calculate the probability of glass fracture, which is used as the metric of equivalency. An idealized nonuniform loading scheme is employed to demonstrate the method and introduce the concept of the equivalent uniform load factor: a factor applied to the maximum pressure of the nonuniform load to obtain the equivalent uniform load value. It is demonstrated that this factor is less than unity for all nonuniform load cases considered, including snow and various characters of wind loading. These significant results suggest that uniform loading may be reliably, and practically, employed to evaluate photovoltaic module glass for nonuniform loading durability.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"136-141"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-10DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625301
Apoorva Choumal;M. Rizwan;Shatakshi
Reliable operation of photovoltaic (PV) fleets with high grid penetration demands prediction tools that translate plant-level irradiance variability into actionable intelligence for PV power management and balance-of-system design. Reliably managing high penetrations of solar PV within modern grids requires predictions that reflect the systemic consequences of fast renewable variability across cyber-physical energy infrastructure. This article proposes RR-LTNet, a ramp-rate (RR)-centric prediction architecture that elevates the RR as the core variability feature linking plant-level intermittency to grid-level operational risk. RR-LTNet first performs dynamic clustering of RR regimes to characterize rapid weather transitions and stability conditions. These regimes taken as feature for hybrid temporal learner that fuses recurrent memory with temporal convolution to capture multiscale dynamics. For predictive assessment, numerical experiments are conducted on one year solar power database of the Yulara Solar Project, Australia. The proposed RR-LTNet consistently outperforms other feature extraction methods by achieving up to 90% reductions in root mean square error (RMSE) for 5-min resolution. The reductions are significantly larger when baseline models are augmented with RR-aware features than when those features are absent. Cross-site validation on two additional PV plants with different capacity and data distribution confirms robustness and consistency required for system engineering deployment across fleets. By surfacing variability intelligence in real time, RR-LTNet supports PV-specific tasks central to reserve scheduling, advanced simulation of PV plant-grid interactions. This framework thus bridges PV monitoring analytics with system level reliability engineering, accelerating the integration of large-scale PV into modern power systems.
{"title":"RR-LTNet: Ramp-Rate-Centric Deep Learning Framework for Short-Horizon Photovoltaic Power Prediction","authors":"Apoorva Choumal;M. Rizwan;Shatakshi","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625301","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3625301","url":null,"abstract":"Reliable operation of photovoltaic (PV) fleets with high grid penetration demands prediction tools that translate plant-level irradiance variability into actionable intelligence for PV power management and balance-of-system design. Reliably managing high penetrations of solar PV within modern grids requires predictions that reflect the systemic consequences of fast renewable variability across cyber-physical energy infrastructure. This article proposes RR-LTNet, a ramp-rate (RR)-centric prediction architecture that elevates the RR as the core variability feature linking plant-level intermittency to grid-level operational risk. RR-LTNet first performs dynamic clustering of RR regimes to characterize rapid weather transitions and stability conditions. These regimes taken as feature for hybrid temporal learner that fuses recurrent memory with temporal convolution to capture multiscale dynamics. For predictive assessment, numerical experiments are conducted on one year solar power database of the Yulara Solar Project, Australia. The proposed RR-LTNet consistently outperforms other feature extraction methods by achieving up to 90% reductions in root mean square error (RMSE) for 5-min resolution. The reductions are significantly larger when baseline models are augmented with RR-aware features than when those features are absent. Cross-site validation on two additional PV plants with different capacity and data distribution confirms robustness and consistency required for system engineering deployment across fleets. By surfacing variability intelligence in real time, RR-LTNet supports PV-specific tasks central to reserve scheduling, advanced simulation of PV plant-grid interactions. This framework thus bridges PV monitoring analytics with system level reliability engineering, accelerating the integration of large-scale PV into modern power systems.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"176-186"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3619977
Saravana Kumar;Hari Narayan;Christian Diestel;Jurriaan Schmitz;Jonas Haunschild;Stefan Rein;Stefan J. Rupitsch
This study presents an inline-compatible technique based on reflectance spectroscopy for characterizing both the thickness and crystalline volume fraction of polysilicon (poly-Si) layers in tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cell precursors, serving as an intermediate characterization step suitable for production and process control. An optical model based on the Fresnel equations and the transfer-matrix method is used to simulate the reflectance of a poly-Si layer on a planar silicon substrate quantitatively. The Bruggeman effective medium approximation is used to define poly-Si as crystalline silicon particles dispersed in an amorphous silicon matrix. By treating the poly-Si layer thickness and crystalline volume fraction as fit parameters, estimates of these values can be obtained from the measured inline reflectance spectra using the developed optical model. The estimated thicknesses and the crystalline volume fractions show a good correlation with the reference thickness values measured from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and reference crystalline volume fraction values estimated with Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The maximum relative difference in thickness values obtained from reflectance spectra and SEM measurements is only 3%. Moreover, the maximum relative difference in crystalline volume fractions derived from reflectance and Raman spectra is just 1.8%.
{"title":"Inline Characterization of Polysilicon Layers in TOPCon Solar Cell Precursors With Reflectance Spectroscopy","authors":"Saravana Kumar;Hari Narayan;Christian Diestel;Jurriaan Schmitz;Jonas Haunschild;Stefan Rein;Stefan J. Rupitsch","doi":"10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3619977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3619977","url":null,"abstract":"This study presents an inline-compatible technique based on reflectance spectroscopy for characterizing both the thickness and crystalline volume fraction of polysilicon (poly-Si) layers in tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cell precursors, serving as an intermediate characterization step suitable for production and process control. An optical model based on the Fresnel equations and the transfer-matrix method is used to simulate the reflectance of a poly-Si layer on a planar silicon substrate quantitatively. The Bruggeman effective medium approximation is used to define poly-Si as crystalline silicon particles dispersed in an amorphous silicon matrix. By treating the poly-Si layer thickness and crystalline volume fraction as fit parameters, estimates of these values can be obtained from the measured inline reflectance spectra using the developed optical model. The estimated thicknesses and the crystalline volume fractions show a good correlation with the reference thickness values measured from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and reference crystalline volume fraction values estimated with Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The maximum relative difference in thickness values obtained from reflectance spectra and SEM measurements is only 3%. Moreover, the maximum relative difference in crystalline volume fractions derived from reflectance and Raman spectra is just 1.8%.","PeriodicalId":445,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics","volume":"16 1","pages":"113-119"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-03DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2025.3616590
Anupam Yedida;Revathy Padmanabhan
While bifacial tandem photovoltaic technology is promising as it is able to generate higher electrical power output by accessing illumination from both front and rear surfaces, a thorough investigation of the performance limits of bifacial tandems with different architectures/arrangements and under different conditions has not been explored. In this work, we present a comprehensive analytical framework based on the principle of detailed balance to assess the performance limits of bifacial tandems spanning multiple architectures, including unconstrained, current-matched (CM), and voltage-matched (VM) configurations. Our methodology explores the performance benefits of incorporating area-decoupled subcells across layers and examines the impact of different bandgap arrangements (monotonic and non-monotonic) on the performance. We show that having non-monotonic arrangement of bandgaps under optimal albedo conditions can significantly enhance the performance of bifacial tandems. In addition, we analyze the performance resilience of each configuration and bandgap arrangement to spectral variations induced by environmental factors such as shading, fluctuations in temperature, and albedo. This provides crucial design guidelines for the design, fabrication, and estimation of the performance limits of these solar cell architectures in different conditions.
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