Cadmium telluride (CdTe)-based solar cells have been proving their potential for high efficiency performance for several decades. However, efficient p-type doping of CdTe has remained a critical challenge for decades thus limiting the performance of this type of solar cell. Thus, this work intends to assess the effects of various dopants and their optimization in order to obtain efficient photovoltaic (PV) performances. In the process we used numerical simulation software SCAPS-1D as it expedites and facilitates the modeling of a solar cell through optimizations and variations. The studied CdTe solar cell structure comprises multi-junction semiconductor layers such as n-ITO/n-ZnO/n-CdS/p-CdTe in a superstrate structure. Three different types of absorber layer dopants such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag) and arsenic (As) are used, respectively. The work started with the optimization of carrier concentration followed by the variation of the thickness of the absorber layer. The PV performances in terms of open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, fill factor and efficiency are presented and, after comparison, the As dopant is shown to be a promising candidate. Also, the working temperature is varied to obtain a suitable environment under which the solar cell can work efficiently.
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