Design and modeling of an SJ infrared solar cell approaching upper limit of theoretical efficiency

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (02) ◽  
pp. 1850014 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Sahoo ◽  
G. P. Mishra

Recent trends of photovoltaics account for the conversion efficiency limit making them more cost effective. To achieve this we have to leave the golden era of silicon cell and make a path towards III–V compound semiconductor groups to take advantages like bandgap engineering by alloying these compounds. In this work we have used a low bandgap GaSb material and designed a single junction (SJ) cell with a conversion efficiency of 32.98%. SILVACO ATLAS TCAD simulator has been used to simulate the proposed model using both Ray Tracing and Transfer Matrix Method (under 1 sun and 1000 sun of AM1.5G spectrum). A detailed analyses of photogeneration rate, spectral response, potential developed, external quantum efficiency (EQE), internal quantum efficiency (IQE), short-circuit current density (J[Formula: see text]), open-circuit voltage (V[Formula: see text]), fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency ([Formula: see text]) are discussed. The obtained results are compared with previously reported SJ solar cell reports.

2021 ◽  
Vol 877 (1) ◽  
pp. 012001
Author(s):  
Marwah S Mahmood ◽  
N K Hassan

Abstract Perovskite solar cells attract the attention because of their unique properties in photovoltaic cells. Numerical simulation to the structure of Perovskite on p-CZTS/p-CH3NH3PbCI3/p-CZTS absorber layers is performed by using a program solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D), with changing absorber layer thickness. The effect of thickness p-CZTS/p-CH3NH3PbCI3/p-CZTS, layers at (3.2μm, 1.8 μm, 1.1 μm) respectively are studied. The obtained results are short circuit current density (Jsc ), open circuit voltage (V oc), fill factor (F. F) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) equal to (28 mA/cm2, 0.83 v, 60.58 % and 14.25 %) respectively at 1.1 μm thickness. Our findings revealed that the dependence of current - voltage characteristics on the thickness of the absorbing layers, an increase in the amount of short circuit current density with an increase in the thickness of the absorption layers and thus led to an increase in the conversion efficiency and improvement of the cell by increasing the thickness of the absorption layers.


2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 19-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. RUSOP ◽  
M. ADACHI ◽  
T. SOGA ◽  
T. JIMBO

Phosphorus-doped amorphous carbon (n-C:P) films were grown by r. f.-power-assisted plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at room temperature using a novel solid red phosphorus target. The influence of phosphorus doping on material properties of n-C:P based on the results of simultaneous characterization are reported. Moreover, the solar cell properties such as series resistance, short circuit current density, open circuit current voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency along with the spectral response are reported for the fabricated carbon-based n-C:P/p-Si heterojunction solar cell that was measured by standard measurement technique. The cells performances have been given in the dark I–V rectifying curve and I–V working curve under illumination when exposed to AM 1.5 illumination condition (100 mW/cm 2, 25°C). The maximum of open-circuit voltage (V oc ) and short-circuit current density (J sc ) for the cells are observed to be approximately 236 V and 7.34, mAcm 2 respectively for the n-C:P/p-Si cell grown at lower r. f. power of 100 W. The highest energy conversion efficiency (η) and fill factor (FF) were found to be approximately 0.84% and 49%, respectively. We have observed that the rectifying nature of the heterojunction structures is due to the nature of n-C:P films.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Do Yun Kim ◽  
Ihsanul Afdi Yunaz ◽  
Shunsuke Kasashima ◽  
Shinsuke Miyajima ◽  
Makoto Konagai

AbstractOptical, electrical and structural properties of silicon films depending on hydrogen flow rate (RH), substrate temperature (TS), and deposition pressure (PD) were investigated. By decreasing RH and increasing TS and PD, the optical band gap (Eopt) of silicon thin films drastically declined from 1.8 to 1.63 eV without a big deterioration in electrical properties. We employed all the investigated Si thin films for p-i-n structured solar cells as absorbers with i-layer thickness of 300 nm. From the measurement of solar cell performances, it was clearly observed that spectral response in long wavelength was enhanced as Eopt of absorber layers decreased. Using the solar cell whose Eopt of i-layer was 1.65 eV, the highest QE at long wavelength with the short circuit current density (Jsc) of 16.34 mA/cm2 was achieved, and open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), and conversion efficiency (η) were 0.66 V, 0.57, and 6.13%, respectively.


2011 ◽  
Vol 347-353 ◽  
pp. 3666-3669
Author(s):  
Ming Biao Li ◽  
Li Bin Shi

The AMPS-ID program is used to investigate optical and electrical properties of the solar cell of a-SiC:H/a-Si1-xGex:H/a-Si:H thin films. The short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency of the solar cell are investigated. For x=0.1, the conversion efficiency of the solar cell achieve maximum 9.19 % at the a-Si1-xGex:H thickness of 340 nm.


2011 ◽  
Vol 335-336 ◽  
pp. 1406-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Miao Chen ◽  
Xiao Ming Dou ◽  
Zhen Qing Li ◽  
Shu Yi Cheng ◽  
Song Lin Zhuang

Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS) film was prepared by screen printing process with the advantages of simple, high-effective and cost-effective. The annealing effects on the screen printed CZTS films were studied. It was found that the crystallinity of the CZTS can be effectively improved by the annealing process, whereas overlong annealing can also introduce defects to the CZTS. The bandgap value of the CZTS is about 1.4 eV. The short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency of the best solar cell with superstrate structure of Carbon/CZTS/In2S3/TiO2/FTO glass (without using any vacuum conditions) are 6.20 mA/cm2, 290 mV, 0.29 and 0.53%, respectively.


2012 ◽  
Vol 260-261 ◽  
pp. 154-162
Author(s):  
S. Tobbeche ◽  
M.N. Kateb

In this work, we present the simulation results of the technological parameters and the electrical characteristics of a crystalline silicon n+pp+ solar cell, using two-dimension (2D) software, namely TCAD Silvaco (Technology Computer Aided Design). TCAD Silvaco Athena is used to simulate various stages of the technology manufacturing, while TCAD Silvaco Atlas is used for the simulation of the electrical characteristics and the spectral response of the solar cell. The J-V characteristics and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) are simulated under AM 1.5 illumination. The conversion efficiency(η)of 16.06% is reached and the other characteristic parameters are simulated: the open circuit voltage (Voc) is of 0.63 V, the short circuit current density (Jsc) equals 30.54 mA/cm² and the form factor (FF) is of 0.83 for the n+pp+ solar cell with a silicon nitride antireflection layer (Si3N4). In order to highlight the importance of the back surface field (BSF), a comparison between two cells, one without BSF (structure n+p), the other with one BSF (structure n+pp+), was made. By creating a BSF on the rear face of the cell the short circuit current density increases from 28.55 to 30.54 mA/cm2, the open circuit voltage from 0.6 to 0.63 V and the conversion efficiency from 14.19 to 16.06%. A clear improvement of the spectral response is obtained in wavelengths ranging from 0.65 to 1.1 µm for the solar cell with BSF.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1684
Author(s):  
Alessandro Romeo ◽  
Elisa Artegiani

CdTe is a very robust and chemically stable material and for this reason its related solar cell thin film photovoltaic technology is now the only thin film technology in the first 10 top producers in the world. CdTe has an optimum band gap for the Schockley-Queisser limit and could deliver very high efficiencies as single junction device of more than 32%, with an open circuit voltage of 1 V and a short circuit current density exceeding 30 mA/cm2. CdTe solar cells were introduced at the beginning of the 70s and they have been studied and implemented particularly in the last 30 years. The strong improvement in efficiency in the last 5 years was obtained by a new redesign of the CdTe solar cell device reaching a single solar cell efficiency of 22.1% and a module efficiency of 19%. In this paper we describe the fabrication process following the history of the solar cell as it was developed in the early years up to the latest development and changes. Moreover the paper also presents future possible alternative absorbers and discusses the only apparently controversial environmental impacts of this fantastic technology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangho Kim ◽  
Thanh Thuy Trinh ◽  
Jinjoo Park ◽  
Duy Phong Pham ◽  
Sunhwa Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractWe developed and designed a bifacial four-terminal perovskite (PVK)/crystalline silicon (c-Si) heterojunction (HJ) tandem solar cell configuration albedo reflection in which the c-Si HJ bottom sub-cell absorbs the solar spectrum from both the front and rear sides (reflected light from the background such as green grass, white sand, red brick, roofing shingle, snow, etc.). Using the albedo reflection and the subsequent short-circuit current density, the conversion efficiency of the PVK-filtered c-Si HJ bottom sub-cell was improved regardless of the PVK top sub-cell properties. This approach achieved a conversion efficiency exceeding 30%, which is higher than those of both the top and bottom sub-cells. Notably, this efficiency is also greater than the Schockley–Quiesser limit of the c-Si solar cell (approximately 29.43%). The proposed approach has the potential to lower industrial solar cell production costs in the near future.


2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 20901
Author(s):  
Abdul Kuddus ◽  
Md. Ferdous Rahman ◽  
Jaker Hossain ◽  
Abu Bakar Md. Ismail

This article presents the role of Bi-layer anti-reflection coating (ARC) of TiO2/ZnO and back surface field (BSF) of V2O5 for improving the photovoltaic performance of Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) based heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs). The simulation was performed at different concentrations, thickness, defect densities of each active materials and working temperatures to optimize the most excellent structure and working conditions for achieving the highest cell performance using obtained optical and electrical parameters value from the experimental investigation on spin-coated CdS, CdTe, ZnO, TiO2 and V2O5 thin films deposited on the glass substrate. The simulation results reveal that the designed CdS/CdTe based heterojunction cell offers the highest efficiency, η of ∼25% with an enhanced open-circuit voltage, Voc of 0.811 V, short circuit current density, Jsc of 38.51 mA cm−2, fill factor, FF of 80% with bi-layer ARC and BSF. Moreover, it appears that the TiO2/ZnO bi-layer ARC, as well as ETL and V2O5 as BSF, could be highly promising materials of choice for CdS/CdTe based heterojunction solar cell.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13087
Author(s):  
Waqas Farooq ◽  
Muhammad Ali Musarat ◽  
Javed Iqbal ◽  
Syed Asfandyar Ali Kazmi ◽  
Adnan Daud Khan ◽  
...  

Modification of a cell’s architecture can enhance the performance parameters. This paper reports on the numerical modeling of a thin-film organic solar cell (OSC) featuring distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) pairs. The utilization of DBR pairs via the proposed method was found to be beneficial in terms of increasing the performance parameters. The extracted results showed that using DBR pairs helps capture the reflected light back into the active region by improving the photovoltaic parameters as compared to the structure without DBR pairs. Moreover, implementing three DBR pairs resulted in the best enhancement gain of 1.076% in power conversion efficiency. The measured results under a global AM of 1.5G were as follows: open circuit voltage (Voc) = 0.839 V; short circuit current density (Jsc) = 10.98 mA/cm2; fill factor (FF) = 78.39%; efficiency (η) = 11.02%. In addition, a thermal stability analysis of the proposed design was performed and we observed that high temperature resulted in a decrease in η from 11.02 to 10.70%. Our demonstrated design may provide a pathway for the practical application of OSCs.


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