Photovoltaic performance of flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells with varying Cr impurity barrier thickness

•We observed the effect of Cr barrier on flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells.•The solar cell performance was improved by increasing Cr barrier thickness.•The diffusion of Fe impurities from the substrate to CIGS was suppressed by Cr.•The reduction of Fe caused a current collection enhancement.•The Fe increased the series resistance, shunt paths, and saturation current.

We report the effect of Cr impurity barrier on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells prepared on flexible substrates. The Cr films with varying the thickness (tCr) were deposited on stainless steel substrates using direct-current magnetron sputtering. The solar cell performance was improved by increasing tCr since the diffusion of Fe impurities from the substrate to CIGS was suppressed. Although the elemental composition, grain size, and strain of CIGS film showed little change with varying Fe content, the fill factor and the short-circuit current density increased as decreasing Fe. The Fe increased the series resistance, shunt paths, and saturation current density. The reduction of Fe caused a steeper bandgap grading in CIGS which enhances current collection due to higher electric fields in bulk CIGS. CIGS solar cells with 1000 nm-thick Cr barrier showed the best conversion efficiency of 9.05%.