Past, present and future of the thin film CdTe/CdS solar cells

Scientific complications and controversies noted in the field of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells and the way forward for further development

“…Therefore, all the experimentally observed results were analysed and interpreted as a simple p-n hetero-junction [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. In parallel, theoretical calculations and simulations were also carried out for this solar cell assuming principles of p-n junction diodes [9][10][11][12]. This is a classic example of following the same ideas in scientific research without critically testing the existing wisdom.…”

Effect of Triton X-100 surfactant on thiol-amine cosolvents assisted facile synthesized CdS thin films on glass substrate by spin coating method

“…Surfactant mediated thin film showing 2θ equal to 13.20°, 15° and 25° corresponds to (002), (002) and (100) planes, respectively, revealing the hexagonal structure with high intensity compared to the film without surfactant [17,[49][50][51][52][53][54]. Although only (002) low intensity hexagonal plane were observed at 2θ = 13.20° and 15° without surfactant [49][50][51]. On the other hand, CdS thin films prepared with surfactant and annealed in air with glass protector has the prominent XRD peak at 2θ = 20.5° along (110) plane with cubic structure and other two weak peaks appeared at 15.5° and 23.1° with (002) and (100) planes, respectively with hexagonal structure [34].…”

Computational investigations into the structural and electronic properties of CdnTen (n = 1–17) quantum dots

“…1 These semiconductor nanomaterials are becoming increasingly important owing to their potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, electro-optical modulators, photodetectors, light emitting diodes and sensors. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Size-tunability of the electronic and optical properties of semiconductor quantum dots and nanoclusters is due to the quantum size effect, which causes variations in the electronic excitations as the particle boundaries are changed. 14 Recently, CdSe and CdTe quantum dots have been used in energy harvesting devices, for example, quantum dotsensitized solar cells.…”

“…14 Recently, CdSe and CdTe quantum dots have been used in energy harvesting devices, for example, quantum dotsensitized solar cells. [6][7][8][9][10] Despite the promising practical applications of semiconductor quantum dots and nanoclusters, a complete understanding of the electronic transitions associated with the surface of nanoparticles is currently lacking and is difficult to achieve experimentally. However, computational methods could provide valuable insights to allow researchers to understand the electronic and optical properties of quantum dots and nanoclusters.…”

“…The relative energy (E e , the energy of the putative global minimum is referenced to zero), binding energy (E b ) in eV per CdTe unit, HOMO and LUMO energies, dipole moments (m) and polarizability per CdTe unit hai for the lowest energy optimized structures of Cd n Te n (n ¼ 1-17), the hollow cage and the endohedral (core-shell) cage structures (n ¼[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] …”