Enhancement of the conversion efficiency of thin film kesterite solar cell

Abstract

Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 ðCZTSÞ is a non-toxic earth abundant material and a promising quaternary semiconductor compound of groups I À II À IV À VI having a kesterite symmetrical structure. Due to its optimum direct bandgap, it has been considered as a suitable material for absorber layers for photovoltaic cell applications. This paper presents the numerical simulation and modeling of CZTS based thin film kesterite photovoltaic cells using SCAP-1D software. The influence of device parameters such as the carrier concentration, thickness, densities of absorber, buffer and window layers, defect densities and the temperature effect on the performance of the ZnO=CdS=CZTS=Mo photovoltaic cell structure are analyzed. Defect densities are added to the absorber layer and the interface between the buffer layer and the absorber layer. This type of solar cell does not comprise any toxic material and can lead to non-toxic thin film photovoltaic cells with outstanding optical properties. In this work, promising optimized results had been achieved with a conversion efficiency of 23.72%, a fill factor of 82.54%, a shortcircuit current (J sc Þ of 44.87 mA=cm 2 , and an open circuit voltage ðV oc Þ of 0.64V.

Modelling of novel-structured copper barium tin sulphide thin film solar cells

“…Recently, researchers have focussed their attention on the quaternary compound materials for the preparation of In-and Ga-free chalcogenide absorber materials [6]. The increasing demand of quaternary compounds for the fabrication of thin film solar cells is due to their potential [7][8][9]. Non-toxic earth-abundant quaternary compound materials, such as CZTS, CZTSe [10][11][12][13], CFTS, CFTSe [14], CBTS, CBTSe [1,15] and their alloys are emerging and promising replacement of chalcopyrite (CIGS, CIGSe) absorbers [16] by substituting low-cost contents, such as Ga with Sn and In with Zn or Ba in chalcopyrite absorbers [17][18][19].…”

“…Modelling of novel-structured CBTS is presented in this research. Solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) software is used for investigation and device modelling [7]. The thickness of the CBTS absorber layer varies from 1 to 10 µm with a band gap energy of 1.9 eV.…”

Numerical analysis for efficiency enhancement of thin film solar cells.

“…for the analysis of CIGS and CdTe solar cell and was widely used for the optimal design of (CIGS, CdTe) solar cells [76]. But recently, SCAPS has emerged as an alternate numerical tool for the analysis of kesterite and perovskite solar cell [126][127][128][129][130][131].…”

Elaboration and characterization by electrochemical technique CZTS thin layers for photovoltaic application

“…Historically in the thin film technology, amorphous silicon-based solar cells played a momentous role. Researchers move towards cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide based thin-film solar cell materials [35]. Commercially these materials are used for the production of thin film solar cells because of high absorption coefficient > 10 4 −1 , excellent optical and electrical properties and high power conversion efficiency [195,196].…”

“…active layer is a quaternary semiconductor of 2 − − − 4 type,[34] composed of the metallic elements copper ( ), zinc ( ), tin ( ) and sulfur ( ) that introduce the advantage of use only non-toxic and abundant materials[35].These elements are widely present in the earth's crust, especially in comparison to the indium and gallium compounds that form the . The metallic chalcogenide is a new type of absorber for thin film solar cells, allowing full registration in a dimension of sustainable technology.…”