Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ Solar Cells Degradation Due To Water Ingress Effect On The Cds Buffer Layer, Deewakar Poudel, Benjamin Belfore, Shankar Karki, Grace Rajan, Sina Soltanmohammad, Angus Rockett, Sylvain Marsillac

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The effect of water ingress on the surface of the buffer layer of a Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell was studied. Such degradation can occur either during the fabrication process, if it involves a chemical bath as is often the case for CdS, or while the modules are in the field and encapsulants degrade. To simulate the impact of this moisture ingress, devices with a structure sodalime glass/Mo/CIGS/CdS were immersed in deionized water. The thin films were then analyzed both pre and post water soaking. Dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) was performed on completed devices to analyze impurity diffusion …

Degradation Mechanism Due To Water Ingress Effect On The Top Contact Of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells, Deewakar Poudel, Shankar Karki, Benjamin Belfore, Grace Rajan, Sushma Swaraj Atluri, Sina Soltanmohammad, Angus Rockett, Sylvain Marsillac

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The impact of moisture ingress on the surface of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells was studied. While industry-scale modules are encapsulated in specialized polymers and glass, over time, the glass can break and the encapsulant can degrade. During such conditions, water can potentially degrade the interior layers and decrease performance. The first layer the water will come in contact with is the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer. To simulate the impact of this moisture ingress, complete devices were immersed in deionized water. To identify the potential sources of degradation, a common window layer for CIGS devices—a bilayer of …

Characterization Of Iron Oxides And Atmospheric Corrosion Of Steel, Sei Jin Oh

Physics Theses & Dissertations

The study of corrosion behavior was performed using three different analytical techniques, which provided information on the formation, development and layering of iron oxides on the corrosion products as a function of atmospheric conditions, exposure time and type of steel. In particular, the protective layer formed on weathering steel was investigated as a function of different amounts of alloying elements in the steel, atmospheric conditions and exposure times. Combined together, the results provided a better understanding of the atmospheric corrosion behavior of steel, and formed a part of database of the atmospheric corrosion characteristics.

Accurate characterization of the iron oxides …

Optical Fiber Fourier Transform Infrared Evanescent Wave Absorption Spectroscopy Of Aluminum Hydroxide And Natural Corrosion, Juock S. Namkung

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new technique for continuous, real-time, in-situ detection of natural corrosion of aluminum alloys is presented. The technique is a generalized version of attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy, that combines optical fibers and a Michelson interferometer spectrometer to make evanescent wave absorption measurements. Aluminum hydroxide is one of the major corrosion products of aluminum. Absorption spectra of powdered samples of aluminum corrosion, in the spectral region around three micrometers have been studied and compared with the spectra from pure powdered aluminum hydroxide. A chalcogenide optical fiber was used as an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) optical element. The same samples were …