Bandgap gradient is a proven approach for improving the open-circuit voltages (Vocs) in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and Cu(Zn,Sn)Se₂ thin-film solar cells, but has not been realized in Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells, a leading thin-film solar cell technology in the photovoltaic market. Here, we demonstrate the realization of a bandgap gradient in Cd(Se,Te) thin-film solar cells by introducing a Cd(O,S,Se,Te) region with the same crystal structure of the absorber near the front junction. The formation of such a region is enabled by incorporating oxygenated CdS and CdSe layers. We show that the introduction of the bandgap gradient reduces the hole density in the front junction region and introduces a small spike in the band alignment between this and the absorber regions, effectively suppressing the nonradiative recombination therein and leading to improved Vocs in Cd(Se,Te) solar cells using commercial SnO₂ buffers. A champion device achieves an efficiency of 20.03% with a Voc of 0.863 V.

Deng-Bing Li, Sandip S. Bista, Rasha A. Awni, Sabin Neupane, Abasi Abudulimu, Xiaoming Wang, Kamala K. Subedi, Manoj K. Jamarkattel, Adam B. Phillips, Michael J. Heben, Jonathan D. Poplawsky, David A. Cullen, Randy J. Ellingson, Yanfa Yan