scholarly journals Enhancing the Performance of an Sb2Se3-Based Solar Cell by Dual Buffer Layer

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12320
Author(s):  
Mamta ◽  
Kamlesh Kumar Maurya ◽  
Vidya Nand Singh
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Energy Band ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Band Alignment ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Window Layer ◽  
Device Performance ◽  
Basic Parameters

In an Sb2Se3-based solar cell, the buffer layer is sandwiched between the absorber and the window layer, playing an essential role in interfacial electricity. Generally, CdS is used as a buffer layer, but its toxic nature and low bandgap can cause current loss because of parasitic absorption. In this work, we optimized the buffer layer by using ZnS as an alternative to the CdS buffer layer in order to decrease the use of CdS. The effect of different buffer layers on the solar device was explored by numerical simulation with the help of SCAPS 1D software. The basic parameters, such as open-circuit voltage (Voc), current density (Jsc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (η) were analyzed and compared for both the buffer layers (CdS/ZnS). The results demonstrate that changing buffer materials and thicknesses has a significant impact on cell performance. The efficiency for the ZnS buffer layer was lower compared to that of the CdS-based solar cells because of insufficient energy band alignment. In order to enhance the efficiency of Sb2Se3-based solar cells, we used CdS/ZnS dual buffer layers and studied the device performance. The work function of the back contact also affects the device performance, and for work functions below 4.8 eV, the device’s efficiency was very low. The effect of varying the thicknesses and temperatures of the buffer layers on the I-V/C-V characteristics, quantum efficiency, and energy band structure are also reported. This study shall guide the researcher in reducing CdS and improving the device’s performance.

Controlling Band Alignment at the Back Interface of Cadmium Telluride Solar Cells using ZnTe and Te Buffer Layers

MRS Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (16) ◽  
pp. 913-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadhil K. Alfadhili ◽  
Adam B. Phillips ◽  
Geethika K. Liyanage ◽  
Jacob M. Gibbs ◽  
Manoj K. Jamarkattel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Band Alignment ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Device Performance ◽  
Band Bending ◽  
Cdte Solar Cells ◽  
Hole Current

ABSTRACTFormation of a low barrier back contact plays a critical role in improving the photoconversion efficiency of the CdTe solar cells. Incorporating a buffer layer to minimize the band bending at the back of the CdTe device can significantly lower the barrier for the hole current, improving open circuit voltage (VOC) and the fill factor. Over the past years, researchers have incorporated the both ZnTe and Te as buffer layers to improve CdTe device performance. Here we compare device performance using these two materials as buffer layers at the back of CdTe devices. We show that using Te in contact to CdTe results in higher performance than using ZnTe in contact to the CdTe. Low temperature current density-voltage measurements show that Te results is a lower barrier with CdTe than ZnTe, indicating that Te has better band alignment, resulting in less downward bending in the CdTe at the back interface, than ZnTe does.

Investigation of Quantum Dot Solar Cell Device Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 1551 ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Neil S. Beattie ◽  
Guillaume Zoppi ◽  
Ian Farrer ◽  
Patrick See ◽  
Robert W. Miles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Quantum Dot ◽  
Band Gap ◽  
Control Device ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Device Performance ◽  
Intermediate Band ◽  
Control Devices

ABSTRACTThe device performance of GaAs p-i-n solar cells containing stacked layers of self-assembled InAs quantum dots is investigated. The solar cells demonstrate enhanced external quantum efficiency below the GaAs band gap relative to a control device without quantum dots. This is attributed to the capture of sub-band gap photons by the quantum dots. Analysis of the current density versus voltage characteristic for the quantum dot solar cell reveals a decrease in the series resistance as the device area is reduce from 0.16 cm2 to 0.01 cm2. This is effect is not observed in control devices and is quantum dot related. Furthermore, low temperature measurements of the open circuit voltage for both quantum dot and control devices provide experimental verification of the conditions required to realise an intermediate band gap solar cell.

scholarly journals Effect of absorber layer bandgap of CIGS-based solar cell with (CdS/ZnS) buffer layer

2021 ◽  
Vol 2128 (1) ◽  
pp. 012009
Author(s):  
Hassan Ismail Abdalmageed ◽  
Mostafa Fedawy ◽  
Moustafa H. Aly
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Cadmium Sulphide ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Zinc Sulphide ◽  
Absorber Layer ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article uses computational models to evaluate the potential of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) thin film solar cells. The use of cadmium sulphide (CdS) renders the solar cell environmentally hazardous. A zinc sulphide (ZnS) that is non-toxic and has a large bandgap is studied as a potential replacement for cadmium sulphide in CIGS-based solar cells. The present research focuses on the impact of the CIGS-based solar cell bandgap absorber layer by increasing the absorber layer thickness (0.1-2 μm) using the solar cell simulator simulation tool SCAPS. The basic simulation produces 18.2 % efficiency with a CdS buffer layer, which is 9.95% better than the previously published work. The Simulated efficiency is 22.16% for the CIGS solar cell using ZnS. The simulation of solar cell characteristics of how the thickness of the absorber layer, the gallium grading (efficiency ranges up to 22.25 %) is demonstrated, showing the effect of buffer layer (ZnS) on the current of short-circuit density (JSC), open-circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), and efficiency (η) of the solar cell.

scholarly journals 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

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.

scholarly journals Simulation study to find suitable dopants of CdS buffer layer for CZTS solar cell

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farjana Akter Jhuma ◽  
Mohammad Junaebur Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Carrier Concentration ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Transparent Conducting Oxide ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Window Layer

AbstractThe performance of CZTS solar cell, a promising candidate in the field of energy production from sunlight, can be improved by optimizing the parameters of most widely used CdS buffer layer. In this work, numerical study have been done on the typical CZTS solar cell structures containing Mo thin film as back contact on glass substrate using SCAPS-1D solar cell simulation software. Then, the CZTS has been used as the absorber layer followed by CdS buffer later. Following, ZnO and transparent conducting oxide n-ITO layers have been considered as window layer and front contact, respectively. In the simulations, the CdS buffer layer has been doped with three different materials such as Silver (Ag), Copper (Cu) and Chlorine (Cl) for a wide acceptable range of carrier concentration. After obtaining the suitable carrier concentration, the thickness of the doped buffer layer has been varied keeping other layer parameters constant to see the variation of performance parameters open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current density (Jsc), fill factor (FF) and efficiency (η) of the CZTS solar cell.

scholarly journals The Effects of ZnTe:Cu Back Contact on the Performance of CdTe Nanocrystal Solar Cells with Inverted Structure

Nanomaterials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingchang Chen ◽  
Junhong Liu ◽  
Zexin Cai ◽  
Ao Xu ◽  
Xiaolin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Contact Layer ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Band Alignment ◽  
Device Performance ◽  
Back Contact ◽  
Device Structure ◽  
Inverted Structure ◽  
Cdte Nanocrystal

CdTe nanocrystal (NC) solar cells have received much attention in recent years due to their low cost and environmentally friendly fabrication process. Nowadays, the back contact is still the key issue for further improving device performance. It is well known that, in the case of CdTe thin-film solar cells prepared with the close-spaced sublimation (CSS) method, Cu-doped CdTe can drastically decrease the series resistance of CdTe solar cells and result in high device performance. However, there are still few reports on solution-processed CdTe NC solar cells with Cu-doped back contact. In this work, ZnTe:Cu or Cu:Au back contact layer (buffer layer) was deposited on the CdTe NC thin film by thermal evaporation and devices with inverted structure of ITO/ZnO/CdSe/CdTe/ZnTe:Cu (or Cu)/Au were fabricated and investigated. It was found that, comparing to an Au or Cu:Au device, the incorporation of ZnTe:Cu as a back contact layer can improve the open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) due to an optimized band alignment, which results in enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE). By carefully optimizing the treatment of the ZnTe:Cu film (altering the film thickness and annealing temperature), an excellent PCE of 6.38% was obtained, which showed a 21.06% improvement compared with a device without ZnTe:Cu layer (with a device structure of ITO/ZnO/CdSe/CdTe/Au).

A Multiscale Modeling Approach to Study Transport in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (DPC) ◽  
pp. 002095-002110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradyumna Muralidharan ◽  
Stuart Bowden ◽  
Stephen M. Goodnick ◽  
Dragica Vasileska
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Kinetic Monte Carlo ◽  
Device Performance ◽  
Drift Diffusion ◽  
Heterojunction Solar Cells ◽  
Ensemble Monte Carlo

Single junction solar cells based on Silicon continue to be relevant and commercially successful in the market due to their high efficiencies and relatively low cost processing. Heterojunction solar cells based on crystalline (c-Si) and amorphous (a-Si) silicon (HIT Cells) have paved the way for devices with high VOC's (>700 mV) and high efficiencies (>20%) [1]. Panasonic currently holds the world record efficiency of 25.6% for its trademark a-Si/c-Si HIT cell [2]. The novel structure of the device precludes the usage of traditional methods (such as drift diffusion) to accurately understand the nature of transport. Theoretical models used by commercial simulators make a variety of assumptions that simplifies the transport problem (assumes a Maxwellian distribution of carriers) and thus lacks the sophistication to study defect transport. In this work we utilize a combination of Ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) simulations, Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations and traditional drift - diffusion (DD) simulations to study transport in the heterojunction solar cell. The device performance of an amorphous silicon (a-Si)/crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell depends strongly on the interfacial transport properties of the device [3]. The energy of the photogenerated carriers at the barrier strongly depends on the strength of the inversion at the heterointerface and their collection requires interaction with the defects present in the intrinsic amorphous silicon buffer layer [4]. In this work we present a multiscale model which can bridge the gap in time scales between different microscopic processes to study the transport through the interface by coupling an ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) and a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC). The EMC studies carrier properties such as the energy distribution function (EDF) at the heterointerface whereas the KMC method allows us to simulate the interaction of discrete carriers with discrete defects [5]. This method allows us to study defect transport which takes place on a time scale which is too long for traditional ensemble Monte Carlo's to analyze. We analyze the injection and extraction of carriers via defects by calculating transition rates for different processes. By using the principles of SRH recombination, this method can also be extended to study recombination processes at the interface and in the amorphous bulk which are crucial parameters for solar cell performance. Therefore, by using the multiscale approach all important processes can be studied rigorously to evaluate device performance. Our simulations indicate that a phonon assisted emission process from a defect is the most favored extraction mechanism and both Poole-Frenkel emission (<2%) and thermionic emission (<1%) were not significant. We extended our simulation methodology to study recombination at the interface and in the buffer layer of the device to find that the device performance is mainly interface recombination limited and that defect densities in the buffer layer have to be really high (>1018 cm-3) in order to degrade device performance.

Comprehensive Study of Light-Soaking Effect in ZnO/Cu(InGa)Se2 Solar Cells with Zn-Based Buffer Layers

2001 ◽  
Vol 668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sutichai Chaisitsak ◽  
Akira Yamada ◽  
Makoto Konagai
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Atomic Layer ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Window Layer ◽  
Layer Deposition ◽  
Cigs Thin Film ◽  
Zinc Diffusion ◽  
Zno Buffer Layer ◽  
Comprehensive Study

ABSTRACTThe light-soaking effect in ZnO/ Cu(InGa)Se2 (CIGS) based solar cells has been studied. A CIGS thin film with Cu(InGa)(SeS)2 surface layer was obtained by selenization (H2Se)/sulfurization (H2S). A high resistively ZnO buffer layer deposited by the atomic layer deposition technique was used as a buffer layer. We found that the light-soaking effect mainly correlates with the properties of the CIGS surface, rather than with the properties of the ZnO buffer/window layer. This phenomenon can be eliminated by surface etching or doping CIGS surface with Zinc. Zinc diffusion using diethylzinc gas has been proposed in this work. To date, we have achieved efficiency of 13.9% (Voc: 560 mV, Jsc: 35.0 mA/cm2, FF: 0.71) without light soaking effect.

CuGaSe2-Based Solar Cells with High Open Circuit Voltage

2007 ◽  
Vol 1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Caballero ◽  
Susanne Siebentritt ◽  
Christian A. Kaufmann ◽  
Carola Kelch ◽  
Daniel Schweigert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Open Circuit Voltage ◽  
Bath Temperature ◽  
Depletion Region ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Window Layer ◽  
Layer Deposition ◽  
Thiourea Concentration ◽  
P Type

AbstractThe objective of this work is to increase the open circuit voltage of CuGaSe2(CGS)-based solar cells without decreasing their efficiency. For that, the interface between the p-type CGS absorber and the n-type CdS/ZnO window layer is compared using three different recipes for the growth of the buffer layer. Results show the importance of the adaptation of the CdS buffer layer to the CuGaSe2 absorber film. A maximum open circuit voltage of 922 mV is achieved for the devices when using 60ºC as the chemical bath temperature and a low thiourea concentration. Drive-level capacitance profiling, external quantum efficiency and temperature dependent current-voltage measurements reveal a better quality of the CdS/CuGaSe2 interface for this buffer layer deposition conditions. Factors such as the larger depletion region width and the lower doping level, reducing the tunnelling component, are pointed out as responsible of the higher Voc.

Growth of an Inx(OOH,S)y Buffer Layer and Its Application to Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 Solar Cells

2005 ◽  
Vol 475-479 ◽  
pp. 1681-1684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki Hwan Kim ◽  
Liudmila.L. Larina ◽  
Kyung Hoon Yoon ◽  
Makoto Konagai ◽  
Byung Tae Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Buffer Layer ◽  
Chemical Bath Deposition ◽  
Absorption Edge ◽  
Optical Transmittance ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Deposition Method ◽  
Photovoltaic Properties ◽  
Cds Film

As an alternative to a CdS buffer layer for Cu(In,Ga)Se2-based solar cells, we prepared In-based buffer layers using a chemical bath deposition method. XPS and XRD analyses revealed that the In-based buffer layers contained In2S3 and InOOH phases. Compared with CdS film, the In-based film, Inx(OOH,S)y, had higher optical transmittance and a shorter absorption edge. The Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 solar cell with the Inx(OOH,S)y buffer layer had better photovoltaic properties than that with a conventional CdS buffer layer. The conversion efficiency of the best Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 solar cell with Inx(OOH,S)y buffer layer was 12.55 % for an active area of 0.19 cm2.

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