The effect of an external electric field on thermally-deposited thin CdS/CdTe-based solar cells

Abstract

Conventional and inverted thin CdS/CdTe-based solar cells are fabricated using thermal deposition techniques, and their performance under an external electric field is investigated. Results show that both positive and negative electric fields can change the performance of the developed solar cells and that the latter recover to their initial state after switching the external electric field off. Heat treatment experiments confirm the negligible impact of the temperature on the solar cell performance. Transient photocurrent experiments show that the carrier transfer efficiency is modulated directly by an external electric field. By taking into account the CdS nanodipole, the effect of an external electric field on the solar cell performance can be well explained. The results presented in this paper open the way toward the realization of solar cells through carrier separation by an electric field provided by the CdS nanodipoles rather than the solar cell junction.