scholarly journals Numerical Modeling of High Conversion Efficiency Mo/CZTS/CdS/ZnO/ FTO Thin Film – Based Solar Cells

Author(s):  
Samer H. Zyoud ◽  
Ahed H. Zyoud ◽  
Naser M. Ahmed ◽  
Anupama R. Prasad ◽  
Sohaib Naseem Khan ◽  
...  

This article describes in detail the numerical modeling of a CZTS (copper zinc tin sulfide) based kesterite solar cell. The Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator -one-dimension (SCAPS-1D) software was used to simulate MO/CZTS/CdS/ZnO/FTO structured solar cells. The parameters of different photovoltaic thin-film solar cells are estimated and analyzed using numerical modeling. The effects of various parameters on the performance of the photovoltaic cell and the conversion efficiency are discussed. Since the response of the solar cell is also contingent on its internal physical mechanism, J-V characteristic measures are insufficient to characterize the behavior of a device. Different features, as well as different potential conditions, must be considered for simulation, disregarding the belief in the modeling of a solar cell. With a conversion efficiency of 25.72%, a fill factor of 83.75%, a short-circuit current of 32.96436 mA/cm2 and an open-circuit voltage of 0.64V, promising optimized results have been achieved. The findings will be useful in determining the feasibility of fabricating high-efficiency CZTS-based photovoltaic cells. The efficiency of a CZTS-based experimental solar cell is also discussed. First, the effects of experimentally developed CZTS solar cells are simulated in the SCAPS-1D environment. The experimental results are then compared to the SCAPS-1D simulated results. The conversion efficiency of an optimized system increases after cell parameters are optimized. Using one-dimensional SCAPS-1D software, the effect of system parameters such as the thickness, acceptor and donor carrier concentration densities of absorber and electron transport layers, and the effect of temperature on the efficiency of CZTS-based photovoltaic cells is investigated. The proposed results will greatly assist engineers and researchers in determining the best method for optimizing solar cell efficiency, as well as in the development of efficient CZTS-based solar cells.

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1468
Author(s):  
Samer H. Zyoud ◽  
Ahed H. Zyoud ◽  
Naser M. Ahmed ◽  
Anupama R. Prasad ◽  
Sohaib Naseem Khan ◽  
...  

The numerical modeling of a copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS)-based kesterite solar cell is described in detail in this article. To model FTO/ZnO/CdS/CZTS/MO structured solar cells, the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator-one-dimension (SCAPS-1D) program was utilized. Numerical modeling was used to estimate and assess the parameters of various photovoltaic thin film solar cells. The impact of different parameters on solar cell performance and conversion efficiency were explored. Because the response of a solar cell is partly determined by its internal physical mechanism, J-V characteristic characteristics are insufficient to define a device’s behavior. Regardless of the conviction in solar cell modeling, variable attributes as well as many probable conditions must be handled for simulation. Promising optimized results were obtained with a conversion efficiency of (η% = 25.72%), a fill factor of (FF% = 83.75%), a short-circuit current of (JSC  = 32.96436 mA/cm2), and an open-circuit voltage of (VOC = 0.64 V). The findings will aid in determining the feasibility of manufacturing high-efficiency CZTS-based solar cells. First, in the SCAPS-1D environment, the impacts of experimentally constructed CZTS solar cells were simulated. The experimental data was then compared to the simulated results from SCAPS-1D. After optimizing cell parameters, the conversion efficiency of the improved system was observed to rise. The influence of system factors, such as the thickness, acceptor, and donor carrier concentration densities of the absorber and electron transport layers, and the effect of temperature on the efficiency of CZTS-based photovoltaic cells, was explored using one-dimensional SCAPS-1D software. The suggested findings will be extremely useful to engineers and researchers in determining the best method for maximizing solar cell efficiency, as well as in the development of more efficient CZTS-based solar cells.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liyuan Zhang ◽  
Sreejith Karthikeyan ◽  
Mandip J. Sibakoti ◽  
Stephen A. Campbell

ABSTRACTWe investigate the synthesis of kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films using thermal evaporation from copper, zinc and tin pellets and post-annealing in a sulfur atmosphere. The effects of chemical composition were studied both on the absorber layer properties and on the final solar cell performance. It is confirmed that CZTS thin film chemical composition affects the carrier concentration profile, which then influences the solar cell properties. Solar cells using a CZTS thin film with composition ratio Cu/(Zn+Sn) = 0.87, and Zn/Sn = 1.24 exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 483 mV, a short-circuit current of 14.54 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 37.66 % and a conversion efficiency of 2.64 %. Only a small deviation from the optimal chemical composition can drop device performance to a lower level, which confirms that the CZTS solar cells with high conversion efficiency existed in a relatively narrow composition region.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Kinoshita ◽  
Daisuke Ide ◽  
Yasufumi Tsunomura ◽  
Shigeharu Taira ◽  
Toshiaki Baba ◽  
...  

AbstractIn order to achieve the widespread use of HIT (Hetero-junction with I etero-Intrinsic T ntrinsic Thin-layer) solar cells, it is important to reduce the power generating cost. There are three main approaches for reducing this cost: raising the conversion efficiency of the HIT cell, using a thinner wafer to reduce the wafer cost, and raising the open circuit voltage to obtain a better temperature coefficient. With the first approach, we have achieved the highest conversion efficiency values of 22.3%, confirmed by AIST, in a HIT solar cell. This cell has an open circuit voltage of 0.725 V, a short circuit current density of 38.9 mA/cm2 and a fill factor of 0.791, with a cell size of 100.5 cm2. The second approach is to use thinner Si wafers. The shortage of Si feedstock and the strong requirement of a lower sales price make it necessary for solar cell manufacturers to reduce their production cost. The wafer cost is an especially dominant factor in the production cost. In order to provide low-priced, high-quality solar cells, we are trying to use thinner wafers. We obtained a conversion efficiency of 21.4% (measured by Sanyo) for a HIT solar cell with a thickness of 85μm. Even better, there was absolutely no sagging in our HIT solar cell because of its symmetrical structure. The third approach is to raise the open circuit voltage. We obtained a remarkably higher Voc of 0.739 V with the thinner cell mentioned above because of its low surface recombination velocity. The high Voc results in good temperature properties, which allow it to generate a large amount of electricity at high temperatures.


2002 ◽  
Vol 715 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Klein ◽  
F. Finger ◽  
R. Carius ◽  
B. Rech ◽  
L. Houben ◽  
...  

AbstractThin film microcrystalline silicon solar cells were prepared with intrinsic absorber layers by Hot Wire CVD at various silane concentrations and substrate temperatures. Independently from the substrate temperature, a maximum efficiency is observed close to the transition to amorphous growth, i.e. the best cells already show considerable amorphous volume fractions. A detailed analysis of the thickness dependence of the solar cell parameters in the dark and under illumination indicate a high electronic quality of the i-layer material. Solar cells with very high open circuit voltages Voc up to 600mV in combination with fill factors above 70% and high short circuit current densities jsc of 22mA/cm2 were obtained, yielding efficiencies above 9%. The highest efficiency of 9.4% was achieved in solar cells of 1.4μm and 1.8μm thickness. These cells with high Voc have considerable amorphous volume fractions in the i-layer, leading to a reduced absorption in the infrared wavelength region.


2013 ◽  
Vol 712-715 ◽  
pp. 309-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Kun Xu

P+a-SiC/ I nc-Si/N+a-Si structure solar cells is simulated by AMPS-1D program package to characterize the new thin film solar cell. In order to analyze the characteristics of the device, the thickness of layer are considered. The results show that the thickness of layer and the value of layer have a great effect on the conversion efficiency. Our results suggest a high performance P a-SiC/ I nc-Si/N a-Si structure solar cells with high efficiency of 14.411% and fill factor of 0.738. The simulation result is potentially valuable in exploring gradual bandgap P+a-SiC/I nc-Si/N+a-Si structure solar cells with high performance.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2145
Author(s):  
Yi-Tsung Chang ◽  
Ching-Ho Tien ◽  
Kun-Yi Lee ◽  
Yu-Shen Tung ◽  
Lung-Chien Chen

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of an Ag/spiro-OMeTAD/CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3)/PCBM/mesoporous TiO2/compact TiO2/FTO planar solar cell with different annealing temperatures of PbI2 and MAPbI3 films was investigated in this study. The morphology control of a MAPbI3 thin film plays key roles in high-efficiency perovskite solar cells. The PbI2 films were prepared by using thermal vacuum evaporation technology, and the MAPbI3 perovskite films were synthesized with two-step synthesis. The X-ray spectra and surface morphologies of the PbI2 and MAPbI3 films were examined at annealing temperatures of 80, 100, 120, and 140 °C for 10 min. The performance of the perovskite planar solar cell at an annealing temperature of 100 °C for 10 min was demonstrated. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) was about 8.66%, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) was 0.965 V, the short-circuit current (Jsc) was 13.6 mA/cm2, and the fill factor (FF) was 0.66 by scanning the density–voltage (J–V) curve.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 886
Author(s):  
Shou-En Chiang ◽  
Qi-Bin Ke ◽  
Anjali Chandel ◽  
Hsin-Ming Cheng ◽  
Yung-Sheng Yen ◽  
...  

A high-efficiency inverted-type CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) solar cell was fabricated by using a ultrathin poly[3-(4-carboxybutyl)thiophene-2,5-diyl]-Na (P3CT-Na) film as the hole transport layer. The averaged power conversion efficiency (PCE) can be largely increased from 11.72 to 18.92% with a double-filtering process of the P3CT-Na solution mainly due to the increase in short-circuit current density (JSC) from 19.43 to 23.88 mA/cm2, which means that the molecular packing structure of P3CT-Na thin film can influence the formation of the MAPbI3 thin film and the contact quality at the MAPbI3/P3CT-Na interface. Zeta potentials, atomic-force microscopic images, absorbance spectra, photoluminescence spectra, X-ray diffraction patterns, and Raman scattering spectra are used to understand the improvement in the JSC. Besides, the light intensity-dependent and wavelength-dependent photovoltaic performance of the MAPbI3 solar cells shows that the P3CT-Na thin film is not only used as the hole transport layer but also plays an important role during the formation of a high-quality MAPbI3 thin film. It is noted that the PCE values of the best P3CT-Na based MAPbI3 solar cell are higher than 30% in the yellow-to-near infrared wavelength range under low light intensities. On the other hand, it is predicted that the double-filtering method can be readily used to increase the PCE of polymer based solar cells.


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.


2006 ◽  
Vol 910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Matt P. Page ◽  
Eugene Iwancizko ◽  
Yueqin Xu ◽  
Yanfa Yan ◽  
...  

AbstractWe have achieved an independently-confirmed 17.8% conversion efficiency in a 1-cm2, p-type, float-zone silicon (FZ-Si) based heterojunction solar cell. Both the front emitter and back contact are hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD). This is the highest reported efficiency for a HWCVD silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell. Two main improvements lead to our most recent increases in efficiency: 1) the use of textured Si wafers, and 2) the application of a-Si:H heterojunctions on both sides of the cell. Despite the use of textured c-Si to increase the short-circuit current, we were able to maintain the same 0.65 V open-circuit voltage as on flat c-Si. This is achieved by coating a-Si:H conformally on the c-Si surfaces, including covering the tips of the anisotropically-etched pyramids. A brief atomic H treatment before emitter deposition is not necessary on the textured wafers, though it was helpful in the flat wafers. It is essential to high efficiency SHJ solar cells that the emitter grows abruptly as amorphous silicon, instead of as microcrystalline or epitaxial Si. The contact on each side of the cell comprises a thin (< 5 nm) low substrate temperature (~100°C) intrinsic a-Si:H layer, followed by a doped layer. Our intrinsic layers are deposited at 0.3-1.2 nm/s. The doped emitter and back-contact layers were deposited at a higher temperature (>200°C) and grown from PH3/SiH4/H2 and B2H6/SiH4/H2 doping gas mixtures, respectively. This combination of low (intrinsic) and high (doped layer) growth temperatures was optimized by lifetime and surface recombination velocity measurements. Our rapid efficiency advance suggests that HWCVD may have advantages over plasma-enhanced (PE) CVD in fabrication of high-efficiency heterojunction c-Si cells; there is no need for process optimization to avoid plasma damage to the delicate, high-quality, Si wafers.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hashem Shahroosvand ◽  
Parisa Abbasi ◽  
Mohsen Ameri ◽  
Mohammad Reza Riahi Dehkordi

The metal complexes ( (phen)2(phendione))(PF6)2(1), [ (phen)(bpy)(phendione))(PF6)2(2), and ( (bpy)2(phendione))(PF6)2(3) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine and phendione = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione) have been synthesized as photo sensitizers for ZnO semiconductor in solar cells. FT-IR and absorption spectra showed the favorable interfacial binding between the dye-molecules and ZnO surface. The surface analysis and size of adsorbed dye on nanostructure ZnO were further examined with AFM and SEM. The AFM images clearly show both, the outgrowth of the complexes which are adsorbed on ZnO thin film and the depression of ZnO thin film. We have studied photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized nanocrystalline semiconductor solar cells based on Ru phendione complexes, which gave power conversion efficiency of (η) of 1.54% under the standard AM 1.5 irradiation (100 mW cm−2) with a short-circuit photocurrent density () of 3.42 mA cm−2, an open-circuit photovoltage () of 0.622 V, and a fill factor (ff) of 0.72. Monochromatic incident photon to current conversion efficiency was 38% at 485 nm.


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