Simulation studies on photovoltaic response of ultrathin CuSb(S/Se) ₂ ternary compound semiconductors absorber‐based single junction solar cells

Abstract

Summary Copper‐based ternary CuSb(S/Se)2 compound semiconductors are showing promise for ultrathin photovoltaic devices. The high absorption coefficient of these semiconductors makes them suitable for very thin absorber, where maximum absorption can be achieved in a photovoltaic device with only nanometers thick CuSb(S/Se)2 based thin films. The device structure under consideration consists of AZO/i‐ZnO/n‐CdS/absorber layer/back contact, as the constituent material layers. The device structure is simulated using one dimensional solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS 1D) under one sun illumination and considering flat band approximation for the back contact and CuSb(S/Se)2 interface. The optimized single junction device efficiencies are approximately 14% and approximately 10.18% with CuSbS2 and CuSbSe2 absorbers, respectively. Further, the impact of various material parameters such as thickness, acceptor concentration of bulk absorber layer, donor concentration of CdS buffer layer, and defects present at bulk absorber layer and at the buffer/absorber interface is discussed in correlation with the photovoltaic performance of the considered devices. The bandgap of CuSb(S/Se)2 reduces linearly with Se alloying, and their impact on device performance is quantified in terms of capacitance voltage (CV), capacitance frequency (Cf), and impedance spectra of the photovoltaic device.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Eco‐Friendly Cs2SnI6 Based Tin Halide Perovskite Solar Cell through Device Modeling

“…The metal contact and hole transport material interface in practice exhibits ohmic or rectifying characteristics impeding the transport of holes. [ 64–66 ] Therefore, various back metal contacts with different work functions were studied, which can be employed as anode materials in the proposed Cs 2 SnI 6 perovskite solar cell. The potential energy barrier at the hole transport material and back metal contact interface is governed by the relation $$$$\begin{equation} {V}_{\rm{b}} = \frac{{{E}_{\rm{g}}}}{q} + \chi - {\phi }_{\rm{m}}\end{equation}$$$$where χ is the electron affinity and ϕ m is the metal work function.…”

“…The metal contact and hole transport material interface in practice exhibits ohmic or rectifying characteristics impeding the transport of holes. [64][65][66] Therefore, various back metal con-tacts with different work functions were studied, which can be employed as anode materials in the proposed Cs 2 SnI 6 perovskite solar cell. The potential energy barrier at the hole transport material and back metal contact interface is governed by the relation…”

Theoretical Insights of Degenerate ZrS2 as a New Buffer for Highly Efficient Emerging Thin‐Film Solar Cells

“…It signifies that all the optimized solar cells have high resistance to the recombination of charge carriers than the initial solar cells. [ 81 ] More specifically, it can be concluded that the large W and high V b of the final solar cells have hastened the separation of charge carriers so that they are collected at the contacts before recombining, thereby contributing to enhanced solar cell performance. Therefore, the above‐discussed findings certainly disclose the dominant role of ZrS 2 properties on the efficient functioning of diverse emerging chalcogenide thin‐film solar cells.…”

Electron Density and Optoelectronic Properties of Copper Antimony Sulphur Ternary Compounds for Photovoltaic Applications

“…The copperzinc tin sulfoselenide (CZTSSe) was explored as a promising alternative material because it might fulfill the prerequisites for sufficient solar irradiation but still, the efficiency of PV devices is relatively low, despite more than a decade of painstaking researches [4]. The copper-based chalcogenide systems including CuSbS2 (Chalcostibite), Cu3SbS4 (Famatinite), Cu12Sb4S13 (Tetrahedrite), and Cu3SbS3 (Skinnerite) phases have been explored as they are interesting alternatives for CIGS thin-film solar cells due to their low-toxicity and earthabundant absorber components [3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The Cu-Sb-S system compounds are p-type semiconductors with optical band gap (Eg) ranging between 0.5 and 2.0 eV and a large absorption coefficient over 10 4 cm −1 at visible wavelengths, which shows a comparable efficiency (i.e., 22.9%) to that of CIGS and CZTSSe [14].…”