Highly improved light harvesting and photovoltaic performance in CdTe solar cell with functional designed 1D-photonic crystal via light management engineering

Abstract

Photonic-based functional designs and integrations for advanced optoelectronic devices are regarded as promising candidates considering the enhancement of efficiency and tunability. With the aim to improve photovoltaic performance by increasing photon harvesting, the study presents the prominent findings of experimental and theoretical comparison of optical and electrical evaluation integrating a functionally designed one-dimension photonic crystal (1D-PC) into CdTe solar cells. Since transparency of the CdS/CdTe heterojunction based solar cell (SC) is reduced by a photonic band gap formed by (MgF2/MoO3)N 1D-PC; namely, re-harvesting is improved by increasing absorbance. The period number at resonance wavelength of 850 nm and photocurrent density ($${J}_{ph}$$ J ph ) have remarkable influence on the investigation. For four periods, the reflectance in the region of photonic band gap is sufficient for photon harvesting and saturation occurs. The photovoltaic performances are comparatively analysed for SCs with and without 1D-PC produced at optimal values. The open-circuit voltage does not change, besides, short-circuit current density and maximum-current density vary between 15.86–17.23 mA cm−2 and, 13.08–15.41 mA cm−2. Having integrated the 1D-PC into the structure, it is concluded that the FF and power conversion efficiency increase from 55.27 to 63.35% with an improvement of 15.91% and, from 8.26 to 10.47% with an improvement of 21.10%.

Enhancement of color and photovoltaic performance of semi-transparent organic solar cell via fine-tuned 1D photonic crystal

“…The center wavelength (λ B ) corresponding to the resonance wavelength of the PBG to be created with 1D-PC must meet the condition given in Supplementary Eq. (16). PBGs designed using the (MgF 2 /MoO 3 ) N 1D-PC system were formed at λ B = 675 nm, 700 nm, 725 nm center wavelengths and N = 2, 4, 6, and 8 periods.…”

Photonic Crystal Structures for Photovoltaic Applications

“…In the case of 3D structures, only inverse opal structures resulting from relatively cheap technology based on self-assembly are taken into account [ 189 ]. In the literature, the following techniques to produce SC prototypes are proposed: chemical vapor deposition [ 179 ], physical vapor deposition [ 103 ], spin coating [ 187 ], reactive-ion etching (RIE) [ 12 ], nano-imprinting techniques [ 184 ], and atomic layer deposition (ALD) [ 189 ]. However, the balance of production costs and benefits should be considered.…”

“…There have been a large number of propositions for using PCs as a back reflectors ( Figure 8 ): 1D binary PCs (DBR) [ 23 , 26 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 ] 1D ternary PCs [ 24 ] Combination of a reflection grating and 1D PCs [ 105 , 106 ] Textured conductive PCs (TCPC) [ 107 ] 2D PCs [ 108 , 109 ] Combination of 1D and 2D PCs [ 94 ] 3D inverse opals [ 110 , 111 ] …”

“…Çetinkaya et al [ 103 ] examined the structure of SCs composed of FTO/SnO 2 /CdS/CdTe/MoO 3 /(MgF 2 /MoO 3 ) N layers. They presented the influence of a number of periods on the absorbance of light ( Figure 9 c) as well as on photocurrent density (J ph ) ( Figure 9 d).…”

In-depth analysis on PTB7 based semi-transparent solar cell employing MoO3/Ag/WO3 contact for advanced optical performance and light utilization

“…TMM is a functional method used in optical and electrical simulations of optoelectronic devices and gives good agreement with experimental results 6 , 7 . TMM can analyse how the electromagnetic wave propagates inside optoelectronic devices, especially those integrating photonic-based systems such as DMD 6 , 14 , 16 and photonic crystal (PC) 7 , 15 , where different dielectric media are grown on top of each other.…”