Application of a Sn4+ doped In2S3 thin film in a CIGS solar cell as a buffer layer

Correction for ‘Application of a Sn4+ doped In2S3 thin film in a CIGS solar cell as a buffer layer’ by SeongYeon Kim et al., Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2020, 4, 362–368.

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Characteristics of an oxide/metal/oxide transparent conducting electrode fabricated with an intermediate Cu–Mo metal composite layer for application in efficient CIGS solar cell

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c7ra07406a ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (76) ◽

pp. 48113-48119 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

San Kang ◽

R. Nandi ◽

Jae-Kwan Sim ◽

Jun-Yong Jo ◽

Uddipta Chatterjee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Metal Oxide ◽

Composite Layer ◽

Metal Composite ◽

Cigs Solar Cell ◽

Transparent Conducting ◽

Different Types ◽

Cigs Solar Cells ◽

Transparent Conducting Electrodes

CIGS solar cells fabricated with different types of AZO/metal/AZO (AZO/Cu/AZO, AZO/Mo/AZO and AZO/Cu–Mo/AZO) transparent conducting electrodes.

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Numerical Modelling Analysis for Carrier Concentration Level Optimization of CdTe Heterojunction Thin Film–Based Solar Cell with Different Non-Toxic Metal Chalcogenide Buffer Layers Replacements: Using SCAPS-1D Software

10.20944/preprints202110.0346.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Samer H. Zyoud ◽

Ahed H. Zyoud ◽

Naser M. Ahmed ◽

Atef Abdekader

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Carrier Concentration ◽

Buffer Layer ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Toxic Metal ◽

Absorber Layer ◽

Buffer Layers ◽

Cds Thin Film

Cadmium telluride (CdTe), a metallic dichalcogenide material, has been utilized as an absorber layer for thin film-based solar cells with appropriate configurations, and the SCAPS-1D structures program has been used to evaluate the results. In both known and developing thin film photovoltaic systems, a CdS thin film buffer layer has been frequently employed as a traditional n-type heterojunction partner. In this study, numerical simulation was used to find a suitable non-toxic material for the buffer layer instead of CdS, among various types of buffer layers (ZnSe, ZnO, ZnS, and In2S3), and carrier concentrations for the absorber layer (NA) and buffer layer (ND) were varied to determine the optimal simulation parameters. carrier concentrations (NA from 2 x 1012 cm-3 to 2 x 1017 cm-3 and ND from 1 x 1016 cm-3 to 1 x 1022 ??−3) have been differed. The results showed that the CdS as buffer layer based CdTe absorber layer solar cell has the highest efficiency (?%) of 17.43%. Furthermore, high conversion efficiencies of 17.42% and 16.27% have been found for ZnSe and ZnO based buffer layers, respectively. As a result, ZnO and ZnSe are potential candidates for replacing the CdS buffer layer in thin-film solar cells. Here, the absorber (CdTe) and buffer (ZnSe) layers were chosen to improve the efficiency by finding the optimal density of the carrier concentration (acceptor and donor). The simulation findings above provide helpful recommendations for fabricating high-efficiency metal oxide-based solar cells in the lab.

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Highly improvement in efficiency of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells

World Journal of Engineering ◽

10.1108/wje-02-2020-0068 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 527-533

Author(s):

Mohsen Sajadnia ◽

Sajjad Dehghani ◽

Zahra Noraeepoor ◽

Mohammad Hossein Sheikhi

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Thin Film Solar Cell ◽

Trap Density ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Content Type ◽

Cigs Thin Film ◽

Absorbing Layer ◽

Cigs Solar Cells

Purpose The purpose of this study is to design and optimize copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells. Design/methodology/approach A novel bi-layer CIGS thin film solar cell based on SnS is designed. To improve the performance of the CIGS based thin film solar cell a tin sulfide (SnS) layer is added to the structure, as back surface field and second absorbing layer. Defect recombination centers have a significant effect on the performance of CIGS solar cells by changing recombination rate and charge density. Therefore, performance of the proposed structure is investigated in two stages successively, considering typical and maximum reported trap density for both CIGS and SnS. To achieve valid results, the authors use previously reported experimental parameters in the simulations. Findings First by considering the typical reported trap density for both SnS and CIGS, high efficiency of 36%, was obtained. Afterward maximum reported trap densities of 1 × 1019 and 5.6 × 1015 cm−3 were considered for SnS and CIGS, respectively. The efficiency of the optimized cell is 27.17% which is achieved in CIGS and SnS thicknesses of cell are 0.3 and 0.1 µm, respectively. Therefore, even in this case, the obtained efficiency is well greater than previous structures while the absorbing layer thickness is low. Originality/value Having results similar to practical CIGS solar cells, the impact of the defects of SnS and CIGS layers was investigated. It was found that affixing SnS between CIGS and Mo layers causes a significant improvement in the efficiency of CIGS thin-film solar cell.

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Numerical Modelling Analysis for Carrier Concentration Level Optimization of CdTe Heterojunction Thin Film–Based Solar Cell with Different Non–Toxic Metal Chalcogenide Buffer Layers Replacements: Using SCAPS–1D Software

Crystals ◽

10.3390/cryst11121454 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 1454 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Samer H. Zyoud ◽

Ahed H. Zyoud ◽

Naser M. Ahmed ◽

Atef F. I. Abdelkader

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Carrier Concentration ◽

Buffer Layer ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Toxic Metal ◽

Absorber Layer ◽

Buffer Layers ◽

Cds Thin Film

Cadmium telluride (CdTe), a metallic dichalcogenide material, was utilized as an absorber layer for thin film–based solar cells with appropriate configurations and the SCAPS–1D structures program was used to evaluate the results. In both known and developing thin film photovoltaic systems, a CdS thin–film buffer layer is frequently employed as a traditional n–type heterojunction partner. In this study, numerical simulation was used to determine a suitable non–toxic material for the buffer layer that can be used instead of CdS, among various types of buffer layers (ZnSe, ZnO, ZnS and In2S3) and carrier concentrations for the absorber layer (NA) and buffer layer (ND) were varied to determine the optimal simulation parameters. Carrier concentrations (NA from 2 × 1012 cm−3 to 2 × 1017 cm−3 and ND from 1 × 1016 cm−3 to 1 × 1022 cm−3) differed. The results showed that the use of CdS as a buffer–layer–based CdTe absorber layer for solar cell had the highest efficiency (%) of 17.43%. Furthermore, high conversion efficiencies of 17.42% and 16.27% were for the ZnSe and ZnO-based buffer layers, respectively. As a result, ZnO and ZnSe are potential candidates for replacing the CdS buffer layer in thin–film solar cells. Here, the absorber (CdTe) and buffer (ZnSe) layers were chosen to improve the efficiency by finding the optimal density of the carrier concentration (acceptor and donor). The simulation findings above provide helpful recommendations for fabricating high–efficiency metal oxide–based solar cells in the lab.

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Numerical Investigation of Cu2O as Hole Transport Layer for High-Efficiency CIGS Solar Cell

10.20944/preprints202110.0326.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Muhammad Hassan Yousuf ◽

Faisal Saeed ◽

Haider Ali Tauqeer

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Wide Band ◽

Hole Transport ◽

Transport Layer ◽

Hole Transport Layer ◽

Cell Efficiency ◽

Cigs Solar Cell ◽

Cigs Solar Cells

Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) is an inexpensive material that has the potential to dominate the next-generation photovoltaic (PV) industry. Here we detail computational investigation of CIGS solar cell with encouragement of adopting cuprous dioxide (Cu2O) as a Hole Transport Layer (HTL) for efficient fabricated CIGS solar cells. Although Cu2O as a HTL has been studied earlier for perovskite and other organic/inorganic solar cell yet no study has been detailed on potential application of Cu2O for CIGS solar cells. With the proposed architecture, recombination losses are fairly reduced at the back contact and contribute to enhanced photo-current generation. With the introduction of Cu2O, the overall cell efficiency is increased to 26.63%. The wide-band of Cu2O pulls holes from the CIGS absorber which allows smoother extraction of holes with experiencing lesser resistance. Further, it was also inferred that, HTL also improves the quantum efficiency (QE) for photons with large wavelengths thus increases the cell operating spectrum.

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Graded Buffer Layer Effect on Performance of the Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.685.60 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 685 ◽

pp. 60-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shui Yang Lien ◽

Meng Jia Yang ◽

Yang Shih Lin ◽

Chia Fu Chen ◽

Po Hung Lin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Amorphous Silicon ◽

Buffer Layer ◽

Conversion Efficiency ◽

Thin Film Solar Cell ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Silicon Thin Film

It is widely accepted that graded buffer layer between the p-layer and i-layer increase the efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells. The open-circuit voltage (Voc), short current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF) of the thin film solar cell are obviously increased. In the present study, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells have been fabricated by 27.12 MHz plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). We discussed the three conditions at the p/i interface without buffer layer, buffer layer and graded buffer layer of thin film solar cells by TCAD software. The influences of the performance of the solar cell with the different buffer layer are investigated. The cell with graded buffer layer has higher efficiency compared with the cells without buffer layer and buffer layer. The graded buffer layer enhances the conversion efficiency of the solar cell by improving Vocand FF. It could be attributed to a reduction of interface recombination rate near the junction. The best performance of conversion efficiency (η)=8.57% (Voc=0.81 V, Jsc=15.46 mA/cm2, FF=68%) of the amorphous silicon thin film solar cell was achieved.

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Investigation on the Effect of Gallium on the Efficiency of CIGS Solar Cells through Dedicated Software

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.448-453.1497 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 448-453 ◽

pp. 1497-1501 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hanif Ullah ◽

Bernabé Marí ◽

Hai Ning Cui

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Absorber Layer ◽

Window Layer ◽

Gallium Content ◽

Cigs Solar Cells ◽

Cell Capacitance ◽

Ga Content

This work reports on the analysis of thin-film copperindiumgalliumdiselenide (CIGS) solar cells by using Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator software (SCAPS). We have modeled a PV device, which consists in a CIGS absorber, a CdS buffer and a ZnO window layer. We have studied the behavior of CIGS absorber as a function of Gallium content by simulating the behavior of CIGS solar cells versus the Ga content in the absorber layer.

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Effect of the Incoherent Encapsulation Layer and Oblique Sunlight Incidence on the Optical and Current-Voltage Characteristics of Surface-Textured Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells Based on the Angle-Dependent Equispaced Thickness Averaging Method

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11052121 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 2121

Author(s):

Gyeongjun Lee ◽

Jiyong Kim ◽

Sungchul Kim ◽

Jungho Kim

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Averaging Method ◽

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate ◽

Glass Layer ◽

Cover Glass ◽

Cigs Solar Cell ◽

Current Voltage ◽

Calculation Results ◽

Cigs Solar Cells

In general, the optical and electrical characteristics of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells have been studied under the condition that sunlight is normally incident from the air to the CIGS solar cell having no thick front encapsulation layers. To obtain the calculation results in a realistic module application, we calculate the optical and current–voltage (J–V) characteristics of surface-textured CIGS solar cells by simultaneously considering the thick front encapsulation layers and oblique sunlight incidence. Using the proposed angle-dependent equispaced thickness averaging method (ADETAM), we incoherently model two successive front encapsulation layers of a cover glass layer and an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) layer, whose respective thicknesses are greater than the coherence length of sunlight (~0.6 μm). The angular dependences of reflectance spectrum and J–V curves are calculated and compared in a surface-textured CIGS solar cell with and without the inclusion of the two front encapsulation layers. We show that the optical absorption improvement of the surface-textured CIGS solar cell over the planar CIGS solar cell can be over-predicted when the thick front encapsulation layers are not considered in the optical modeling.

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Impact of doping concentration, thickness, and band-gap on individual layer efficiency of CIGS solar cell

Functional Materials Letters ◽

10.1142/s179360472151022x ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 2151022

Author(s):

Kitalu Ricin Ngoy ◽

Abhay Kumar Singh ◽

Tien-Chien Jen

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Solar Cell ◽

Layer Thickness ◽

Current Density ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Individual Layer ◽

Cigs Solar Cell ◽

Highly Efficient ◽

Cigs Solar Cells

An investigation with the individual layer physical property of the CIGS solar cells is a significant parameter to design and fabricate highly efficient devices. Therefore, this work demonstrates the thickness and carrier concentrations doping dependence simulations using SCAPS 1D software. The optimized CIGS solar cells different layer properties such as short-circuit current density ([Formula: see text], open-circuit voltage ([Formula: see text], Fill Factor (FF) and conversion efficiency ([Formula: see text] with varying thickness and doped concentration are presented. This optimized layer by layer simulation work would be useful to build a suitable CIGS solar cell structure. This simulation investigation showed that an optimal CIGS device structure can be fabricated possessing the configuration of a window layer ZnO : Al thickness 0.02 [Formula: see text]m, ZnO layer thickness 0.01 [Formula: see text] m with [Formula: see text] = 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] = 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text], a CdS buffer layer thickness 0.01 [Formula: see text]m with [Formula: see text] = 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text] and absorber layer CIGS in the thickness range of 1–4 [Formula: see text]m with the doping level range [Formula: see text] = 10[Formula: see text]–10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text], along with the optimal CIGS energy bandgap range of 1.3–1.45 eV. According to optimized simulation results, a CIGS solar cell device can possess electric efficiency 26.61%, FF 82.96%, current density of 38.21 mA/cm2 with the open circuit voltage 0.7977 eV. Hence, these optimized simulation findings could be helpful to provide a path to design and fabricate highly efficient CIGS solar cells devices.

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