The performance of thin film solar cells employing photovoltaic ZnSe/CdTe, CdS/CdTe and ZnTe/CdTe heterojunctions

Abstract

This paper focuses on the photovoltaic parameters of ZnSe/CdTe, CdS/CdTe, and ZnTe/CdTe thin film heterojunction solar cells. ZnSe/CdTe, CdS/CdTe, and ZnTe/CdTe thin film heterojunction solar cells were fabricated by Close Space Sublimation (CSS) on TCOcoated glass substrates. All types of solar cells were fabricated in a superstrate configuration. The thickness of ZnSe and ZnTe layers was varied in order to adjust the solar cell performance. A similar cadmium chloride solution for the treatment of a CdTe layer with an elevated temperature air annealing of the completed devices before the back contact deposition was applied to ZnSe/CdTe and CdS/CdTe thin film heterojunctions solar cells with exception of ZnTe/CdTe. All cells were characterized through light and dark current density-voltage (J-V) measurements and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements. The saturation current, ideality factor and photovoltaic parameters for all thin film heterojunction solar cells are presented. The investigation at the room temperature under illumination of 100 mW/cm 2 through the wide gap components of ZnSe/CdTe, CdS/CdTe, and ZnTe/CdTe heterojunctions showed a value of conversion efficiency (η) of solar energy to electric energy about 4.7%, 9.9%, and 1.3%, respectively. The incorporation of Zn at the ZnSe and CdTe interface doubles the short circuit current density and improves the performance of ZnSe/CdTe thin film heterojunction solar cells.

Temperature dependent electroreflectance study of CdTe solar cells

“…All cells were completed with a Ni metal contact thermally deposited in vacuum. Both types of the solar cells have been fabricated in a superstrate configuration, and more details were given in [10].…”

Post deposition annealing effect on properties of CdS films and its impact on CdS/Sb2Se3 solar cells performance

“…Among these, PV devices based on CdS/Sb 2 Se 3 heterojunctions stand out as most prolific, having produced some of the highest PCEs of 8.6% and 7.9% for substrate and superstrate configurations, respectively (Liu et al, 2021;Tang et al, 2022). The choice for CdS, is derived from the fact that this is one of the most established n-type heterojunction (HTJ) partner layers in more mature thin film solar cell technologies such as CIGS (Carron et al, 2019), CdTe (Potlog et al, 2011;2012) and CZTS (Hernández-Calderón et al, 2020;Punathil et al, 2021). Like in the aforementioned solar cell technologies, CdS (~2.4 eV) buffer films for Sb 2 Se 3 PV devices are mostly fabricated by a simple and cost-efficient chemical bath deposition (CBD) method.…”

Photovoltaic Solar Application Study of Cu0.5Zn0.5Se Thin Films by Chemical Bath Deposition Method

“…In Photovoltaic cells (PVC), the interface which forms on mere dipping the semiconductor into electrolyte solution and the liquid junction potential barrier can be easily established. Polycrystalline semiconductor films can also be used without any drastic decrease in efficiency 8 . This is probably due to the intimate and perfect contact of liquid electrolyte with the crystalline grains.…”