A cupric oxide (CuO) nanocrystal-doped NaCl single crystal and a pure NaCl single crystal are grown by using the Czochralski (Cz) method. A number of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption in the UV—visible range, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy are used to characterize the obtained NaCl and NaCl:CuO crystals. It is observed that the average radius of CuO crystallites in NaCl:CuO crystal is about 29.87 nm, as derived from the XRD data analysis. Moreover, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy results confirm the existence of the monoclinic CuO phase in NaCl crystal. UV—visible absorption measurements indicate that the band gap of the NaCl:CuO crystal is 434 nm (2.85 eV), and it shows a significant amount of blue-shift (ΔEg = 1 eV) in the band gap energy of CuO, which is due to the quantum confinement effect exerted by the CuO nanocrystals. The PL spectrum of the NaCl:CuO shows a broad emission band centred at around 438 nm, which is consistent with the absorption measurement.

Transparent conducting n-type SnO2 semiconductor films were fabricated by employing an inexpensive, simplified spray ultrasonic technique using an ultrasonic generator at deferent substrate temperatures (300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 °C). The structural studies reveal that the SnO2 films are polycrystalline at 350, 400, 450, 500 °C with preferential orientation along the (200) and (101) planes, and amorphous at 300 °C. The crystallite size of the films was found to be in the range of 20.9–72.2 nm. The optical transmittance in the visible range and the optical band gap are 80% and 3.9 eV respectively. The films thicknesses were varied between 466 and 1840 nm. The resistivity was found between 1.6 and 4 × 10−2 Ω·cm. This simplified ultrasonic spray technique may be considered as a promising alternative to a conventional spray for the massive production of economic SnO2 films for solar cells, sensors and opto-electronic applications.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the best transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials with a wide bandgap and good electrical and optical properties. Its low cost, nontoxicity and transparency in the optical region of the electromagnetic spectrum make it very promising candidate for solar cell applications. In this work, zinc acetate precursor was used to grow a ZnO thin film by using sol-gel spin-coating technique. The surface morphological study using scanning electron microscope (SEM) was carried out to confirm the growth pattern and crystal distribution. The optical properties, transmission (T), reflection (R), optical bandgap (Eg), refractive index (n), and extinction coefficient (k) were extracted and investigated to be used in the simulation of ZnO/Cu2O heterostructure solar cell, where ZnO thin film plays a double role: as the TCO window, as well as the emitter of the n-p junction. However, the solar cell showed weak external quantum efficiency (EQE) compared to those prepared by using zinc nitrate and diethyl zinc precursors. TCAD numerical simulation was used to clarify the origin of this weak EQE by taking into account two parameters. The first studied parameter is the root-mean-square interface roughness, RMS, in Haze modeling approach, H, which describes how much of incident light is scattered at the interface. The second studied parameter is the density of defects in the ZnO bulk with continuous distribution of states in its bandgap similar to an amorphous semiconductor made of tail bands and Gaussian distribution deep level bands. Consequently, and by adjusting and investigating the effect of the RMS and the constituents of the bandgap states, we were able to obtain a good agreement between simulated and measured EQE characteristics of the solar cell.

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Using a previous model, which was developed to describe the light-induced creation of the defect density in the a-Si:H gap states, we present in this work a computer simulation of the a-Si:H p-in solar cell behavior under continuous illumination. We have considered the simple case of a monochromatic light beam nonuniformly absorbed. As a consequence of this light-absorption profile, the increase of the dangling bond density is assumed to be inhomogeneous over the intrinsic layer (i-layer). We investigate the internal variable profiles during illumination to understand in more detail the changes resulting from the light-induced degradation effect. Changes in the cell external parameters including the open circuit voltage, V oc , the short circuit current density, J sc , the fill factor, FF, and the maximum power density, P max , are also presented. This shows, in addition, the free carrier mobility influence. The obtained results show that V oc seems to be the less affected parameter by the light-induced increase of the dangling bond density. Moreover, its degradation is very weak-sensitive to the free carrier mobility. Finally, the free hole mobility effect is found to be more important than that of electrons in the improvement of the solar cell performance.

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