Sodium‐Induced Process Window Expansion Enables High‐Performance Solution‐Processed CISSe Thin‐Film Solar Cells for Tandem Applications

ABSTRACT This work reports a sodium‐enabled breakthrough in air‐processable N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) molecular ink routes for CuIn(S,Se) 2 (CISSe) solar cells. Excess Na incorporation significantly expands the otherwise narrow air annealing temperature (AAT) window required for high‐efficiency device fabrication. Mechanistic investigations reveal that Na suppresses the formation of detrimental Cu x Se secondary phases and associated interfacial p + defects (V Cu –V Se complexes), which are highly sensitive to AAT under Na‐deficient conditions. This effect originates from a Na‐induced transition in growth kinetics from long‐range, diffusion‐limited processes to short‐range growth, effectively preventing Cu x Se surface segregation. Consequently, Na incorporation mitigates interfacial p + transport barriers at the absorber/buffer interface while simultaneously enhancing processing tolerance. As a result, high and reproducible device efficiencies are achieved over a significantly broadened AAT range, with a new certified record efficiency of 14.70% for solution‐processed CISSe solar cells. Furthermore, integration into a solution‐processed 4‐terminal (4T) perovskite/CISSe tandem device yields a power conversion efficiency of 25.80%. These findings establish a viable pathway toward scalable, reproducible, and high‐performance solution‐processed tandem photovoltaics.

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Small
Published
2026-09-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.75801
Primary Topic
Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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Sodium‐Induced Process Window Expansion Enables High‐Performance Solution‐Processed CISSe Thin‐Film Solar Cells for Tandem Applications

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Small
Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films
article

Sodium‐Induced Process Window Expansion Enables High‐Performance Solution‐Processed CISSe Thin‐Film Solar Cells for Tandem Applications

Soomin Song, Jihye Gwak, Sungjun Hong, Seung Kyu Ahn, Ahreum Lee, Inyoung Jeong, Junseop Byeon, SeJin Ahn, Donghyeop Shin, Yasir Siddique, Tran Van Hung, Jiseon Hwang, Kihwan Kim, Ara Cho, Huyen Tran, Inchan Hwang, Sangmin Lee, Ivan L. Opao, Muhammad Rehan
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work reports a sodium‐enabled breakthrough in air‐processable N,N‐dimethylformamide (DMF) molecular ink routes for CuIn(S,Se) 2 (CISSe) solar cells. Excess Na incorporation significantly expands the otherwise narrow air annealing temperature (AAT) window required for high‐efficiency device fabrication. Mechanistic investigations reveal that Na suppresses the formation of detrimental Cu x Se secondary phases and associated interfacial p + defects (V Cu –V Se complexes), which are highly sensitive to AAT under Na‐deficient conditions. This effect originates from a Na‐induced transition in growth kinetics from long‐range, diffusion‐limited processes to short‐range growth, effectively preventing Cu x Se surface segregation. Consequently, Na incorporation mitigates interfacial p + transport barriers at the absorber/buffer interface while simultaneously enhancing processing tolerance. As a result, high and reproducible device efficiencies are achieved over a significantly broadened AAT range, with a new certified record efficiency of 14.70% for solution‐processed CISSe solar cells. Furthermore, integration into a solution‐processed 4‐terminal (4T) perovskite/CISSe tandem device yields a power conversion efficiency of 25.80%. These findings establish a viable pathway toward scalable, reproducible, and high‐performance solution‐processed tandem photovoltaics.

Small
Chungnam National University (KR), Korea Institute of Energy Research (KR), Department of Science and Technology (PH), Korea University of Science and Technology (KR)
National Research Foundation, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Institute of Energy Research, National Research Foundation of Korea, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films
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