Fabrication and characterization of low cost Cu 2 O/ZnO:Al solar cells for sustainable photovoltaics with earth abundant materials

Abdelfatah, Mahmoud; Ledig, Johannes; El-Shaer, Abdelhamid; Wagner, Alexander; Marín-Borrás, V.; Sharafeev, Azat; Lemmens, P.; Mosaad, M. M.; Waag, A.; Bakin, A.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2015.11.015

Cited by 46 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…One of the most commonly used semiconductors, zinc oxide (ZnO), has been applied in a variety of photovoltaic solar cells, such as Si [1], III-V [2], CdTe [3], OPV [4], perovskites [5], Cu 2 O [6], Kesterites [7] and Chalcopyrites [8]. With some tuning, this material can be used in different contact roles, including heterojunction partners (a.k.a.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Rajbhandari

Bikowski

Perkins

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Development of tunable contact materials based on environmentally friendly chemical elements using scalable deposition approaches is necessary for existing and emerging solar energy conversion technologies. In this paper, the properties of ZnO alloyed with magnesium (Mg), and doped with gallium (Ga) are studied using combinatorial thin film experiments. As a result of these studies, the optical band gap of the sputtered Zn 1-x Mg x O thin films was determined to vary from 3.3 to 3.6 eV for a compositional spread of Mg content in the 0.04 < x < 0.17 range. Depending on whether or not Ga dopants were added, the electron concentrations were on the order of 10 17 cm -3 or 10 20 cm -3 , respectively. Based on these results and on the Kelvin Probe work function measurements, a band diagram was derived using basic semiconductor physics equations. The quantitative determination of how the energy levels of Gadoped (Zn,Mg)O thin films change as a function of Mg composition presented here, will facilitate their use as optimized contact layers for both Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS), Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) and other solar cell absorbers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Rajbhandari

Bikowski

Perkins

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…about 38.1 to about 37.9 mA/cm 2 with growing of carrier concentration may be attributed to increase of the recombination rate than the generation rate of electronhole pairs. On the other hand, the V oc values of simulated solar cells devices enhancement with growing with carrier concentration of active layer [27] . This could be recognized by rising built-in potential that formed mainly in absorber layer side.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The values of the J sc and the V oc decrease from about 38.1 mA/cm 2 and 0.802 V to about 37.9 mA/cm 2 and 0.801 V, respectively with carrier concentration increasing and remaining constant with concentration above 10 20 cm -3 . The action of J sc and V oc values may be attributed to built-in potential which is full completed and therefore the collection rate of the charge carrier become constant resulting stability of such values [26,27] .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of band gap and carrier concentration on ZnO/CuO solar cells performance

Abdelfatah

Salah

Bakry

et al. 2021

Egyptian Journal of Solids

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“…In this framework, one of the limiting factors is the lack of highly conductive p-type transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) and issues related to the low energy of the valence bands . Among promising p-type oxide semiconductor materials, Cu 2 O and NiO were successfully applied in optoelectronic devices. − Cu 2 O is considered an important p-type TCO and its suitability in diodes has been already demonstrated. − Previous works by our group highlighted the rectifying behavior of the Cu 2 O/ZnO structure, around I on / I off (±0.5 V) ∼ 3 × 10 4 . However, the optical properties in the visible range are still far from optimal, with low values of average total transmittance, around 40%, over the visible range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

n-ZnO/Out-of-Stoichiometry p-CuCrO₂ Diodes for Efficient and Low-Cost Transparent Electronic Applications

Bottiglieri

Sekkat

Belmouhoub

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Electron. Mater.

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In this work, we present the synthesis of high-performance transparent diodes based on p-type out-of-stoichiometry CuCrO2 and n-type ZnO thin films. The oxides were fabricated by scalable chemical deposition methods at low temperature and ambient pressure, without any further postdeposition annealing treatment. We report the optimization of the devices through the fine-tuning of the deposition parameters of the two layers, namely, the composition of the p-type semiconductor and the deposition temperature of the n-type counterpart, and their thorough characterization. UV–vis spectroscopy measurements highlighted the antireflection function of the ZnO layer, resulting in an optical transmittance of the junction above 75% in the visible range. In-depth XPS profile studies confirmed the absence of atomic diffusion between the different layers. The optimized junction between a nanocomposite Cu2O+CuCrO2 coupled with polycrystalline ZnO presents the highest rectification ratio reported in the literature for similar devices, with values greater than 105 between −2.5 and +2.5 V. These extremely high performances are attributed to the formation of intraband levels, due to the stoichiometry variation of the CuCrO2 phase and the low crystallinity of n-type ZnO. These results open many prospects for optoelectronics and are particularly promising for the transparent oxide electronics industry.

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Fabrication and characterization of low cost Cu 2 O/ZnO:Al solar cells for sustainable photovoltaics with earth abundant materials

Cited by 46 publications

References 42 publications

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Influence of band gap and carrier concentration on ZnO/CuO solar cells performance

n-ZnO/Out-of-Stoichiometry p-CuCrO₂ Diodes for Efficient and Low-Cost Transparent Electronic Applications

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Fabrication and characterization of low cost Cu 2 O/ZnO:Al solar cells for sustainable photovoltaics with earth abundant materials

Cited by 46 publications

References 42 publications

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Combinatorial sputtering of Ga-doped (Zn,Mg)O for contact applications in solar cells

Influence of band gap and carrier concentration on ZnO/CuO solar cells performance

n-ZnO/Out-of-Stoichiometry p-CuCrO2 Diodes for Efficient and Low-Cost Transparent Electronic Applications

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Product

Resources

About

n-ZnO/Out-of-Stoichiometry p-CuCrO₂ Diodes for Efficient and Low-Cost Transparent Electronic Applications