Silicon nanowires solar cell

2011 ◽  
Vol 1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobing Xie ◽  
Xiangbo Zeng ◽  
Wenjie Yao ◽  
Ping Yang ◽  
Shiyong Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Silicon Nanowires ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Nanowire Array ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Type Layer ◽  
Si Nanowire Array

ABSTRACTWe made an amorphous-silicon (a-Si) solar cell with a nanowire-array structure on stainless steel(SS) by plasma enhanced chemical vapor (PECVD) deposition. This nanowire structure has an n-type Si nanowire array in which a-Si intrinsic layer and p type layer are sequentially grown on the surface of the nanowire. The highest open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) for AM 1.5 illumination were 620 mV and 13.4 mA/cm2, respectively at a maximum power conversion efficiency of 3.57%.

Devices Fabrication with Narrow-Bandgap a-SiGe:H Alloys Deposited by HWCVD

2004 ◽  
Vol 808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueqin Xu ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Brent P. Nelson ◽  
Eugene Iwaniczko ◽  
Robert C. Reedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Single Junction

ABSTRACTWe incorporate narrow-gap amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) alloys grown by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) into single-junction n-i-p solar cells, and improve both fill factor (FF) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) by bandgap grading. The Tauc bandgap (ET) of the a-SiGe:H is as low as about 1.25 eV. Previously [1], we obtained a short-circuit current density (Jsc) up to 20 mA/cm2 in an n-i-p device incorporating an ungraded 120-nm i-layer of 1.25-eV a-SiGe:H. However, without buffer layers or bandgap profiling, the fill factor was only 38%, likely due to an abrupt bandgap transition and poor hole collection. To overcome these problems, we have used composition bandgap profiling throughout the i-layer and improved both Voc and FF significantly without any Jsc loss. The solar cell efficiency is improved from 3.55% to 5.85% and Voc rises from 0.475 to 0.550 eV. This improved single-junction a-SiGe:H solar cell has a quantum efficiency of about 48% at l=800 nm and about 15% at l=900 nm. We present details of the bandgap profiling and its effect on device performance.

scholarly journals CdTe-Based Thin Film Solar Cells: Past, Present and Future

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1684
Author(s):  
Alessandro Romeo ◽  
Elisa Artegiani
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Solar Cell Efficiency ◽  
Cell Efficiency

CdTe is a very robust and chemically stable material and for this reason its related solar cell thin film photovoltaic technology is now the only thin film technology in the first 10 top producers in the world. CdTe has an optimum band gap for the Schockley-Queisser limit and could deliver very high efficiencies as single junction device of more than 32%, with an open circuit voltage of 1 V and a short circuit current density exceeding 30 mA/cm2. CdTe solar cells were introduced at the beginning of the 70s and they have been studied and implemented particularly in the last 30 years. The strong improvement in efficiency in the last 5 years was obtained by a new redesign of the CdTe solar cell device reaching a single solar cell efficiency of 22.1% and a module efficiency of 19%. In this paper we describe the fabrication process following the history of the solar cell as it was developed in the early years up to the latest development and changes. Moreover the paper also presents future possible alternative absorbers and discusses the only apparently controversial environmental impacts of this fantastic technology.

Enhancement of the performance of CdS/CdTe heterojunction solar cell using TiO2/ZnO bi-layer ARC and V2O5 BSF layers: A simulation approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 20901
Author(s):  
Abdul Kuddus ◽  
Md. Ferdous Rahman ◽  
Jaker Hossain ◽  
Abu Bakar Md. Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Photovoltaic Performance ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Heterojunction Solar Cell ◽  
Back Surface ◽  
Heterojunction Solar Cells

This article presents the role of Bi-layer anti-reflection coating (ARC) of TiO2/ZnO and back surface field (BSF) of V2O5 for improving the photovoltaic performance of Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) based heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs). The simulation was performed at different concentrations, thickness, defect densities of each active materials and working temperatures to optimize the most excellent structure and working conditions for achieving the highest cell performance using obtained optical and electrical parameters value from the experimental investigation on spin-coated CdS, CdTe, ZnO, TiO2 and V2O5 thin films deposited on the glass substrate. The simulation results reveal that the designed CdS/CdTe based heterojunction cell offers the highest efficiency, η of ∼25% with an enhanced open-circuit voltage, Voc of 0.811 V, short circuit current density, Jsc of 38.51 mA cm−2, fill factor, FF of 80% with bi-layer ARC and BSF. Moreover, it appears that the TiO2/ZnO bi-layer ARC, as well as ETL and V2O5 as BSF, could be highly promising materials of choice for CdS/CdTe based heterojunction solar cell.

scholarly journals Simulation of a perovskite sandwich solar cell with the p-CZTS / p-CH3NH3PbCI3 / p-CZTS absorber layers

2021 ◽  
Vol 877 (1) ◽  
pp. 012001
Author(s):  
Marwah S Mahmood ◽  
N K Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Current Density ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Perovskite Solar Cells ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Cell Capacitance

Abstract Perovskite solar cells attract the attention because of their unique properties in photovoltaic cells. Numerical simulation to the structure of Perovskite on p-CZTS/p-CH3NH3PbCI3/p-CZTS absorber layers is performed by using a program solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D), with changing absorber layer thickness. The effect of thickness p-CZTS/p-CH3NH3PbCI3/p-CZTS, layers at (3.2μm, 1.8 μm, 1.1 μm) respectively are studied. The obtained results are short circuit current density (Jsc ), open circuit voltage (V oc), fill factor (F. F) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) equal to (28 mA/cm2, 0.83 v, 60.58 % and 14.25 %) respectively at 1.1 μm thickness. Our findings revealed that the dependence of current - voltage characteristics on the thickness of the absorbing layers, an increase in the amount of short circuit current density with an increase in the thickness of the absorption layers and thus led to an increase in the conversion efficiency and improvement of the cell by increasing the thickness of the absorption layers.

scholarly journals Optimized Thin-Film Organic Solar Cell with Enhanced Efficiency

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13087
Author(s):  
Waqas Farooq ◽  
Muhammad Ali Musarat ◽  
Javed Iqbal ◽  
Syed Asfandyar Ali Kazmi ◽  
Adnan Daud Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Organic Solar Cell ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Bragg Reflector ◽  
Performance Parameters ◽  
Distributed Bragg Reflector

Modification of a cell’s architecture can enhance the performance parameters. This paper reports on the numerical modeling of a thin-film organic solar cell (OSC) featuring distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) pairs. The utilization of DBR pairs via the proposed method was found to be beneficial in terms of increasing the performance parameters. The extracted results showed that using DBR pairs helps capture the reflected light back into the active region by improving the photovoltaic parameters as compared to the structure without DBR pairs. Moreover, implementing three DBR pairs resulted in the best enhancement gain of 1.076% in power conversion efficiency. The measured results under a global AM of 1.5G were as follows: open circuit voltage (Voc) = 0.839 V; short circuit current density (Jsc) = 10.98 mA/cm2; fill factor (FF) = 78.39%; efficiency (η) = 11.02%. In addition, a thermal stability analysis of the proposed design was performed and we observed that high temperature resulted in a decrease in η from 11.02 to 10.70%. Our demonstrated design may provide a pathway for the practical application of OSCs.

High-efficiency CIGS solar cell by optimization of doping concentration, thickness and energy band gap

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (04) ◽  
pp. 2050053
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Ghavami ◽  
Alireza Salehi
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Band Gap ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Absorber Layer ◽  
Window Layer

In this paper, the performance of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cell, with ZnO window layer, ZnSe buffer layer, CIGS absorber layer and InGaP reflector layer was studied. The study was performed using the TCAD Silvaco simulator. The effects of grading the band gap of CIGS absorber layer, the various thicknesses and doping concentrations of different layers have been investigated. By optimizing the solar cell structure, we have obtained a maximum open circuit voltage of 0.91901 V, a short circuit current density of 39.89910 mA/cm2, a fill factor (FF) of 86.67040% and an efficiency of 31.78% which is much higher than the values for similar CIGS solar cells reported so far.

Preparation of the Three Main Layers of CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cells Using a Single Vacuum System

2011 ◽  
Vol 378-379 ◽  
pp. 601-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saleh N. Alamri ◽  
M. S. Benghanem ◽  
A. A. Joraid
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Fused Silica ◽  
Vacuum System ◽  
Cdte Thin Film

This study investigates the preparation of the three main layers of a CdS/CdTe thin film solar cell using a single vacuum system. A Close Space Sublimation System was constructed to deposit CdS, CdTe and CdCl2 solar cell layers. Two hot plates were used to heat the source and the substrate. Three fused silica melting dishes were used as containers for the sources. The properties of the deposited CdS and CdTe films were determined via Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and optical transmission spectroscopy. An J-V characterization of the fabricated CdS/CdTe solar cells was performed under solar radiation. The short-circuit current density, Jsc, the open-circuit voltage, Voc, fill factor, FF and conversion efficiency, η, were measured and yielded values of 27 mA/cm2, 0.619 V, 58% and 9.8%, respectively.

Design and modeling of an SJ infrared solar cell approaching upper limit of theoretical efficiency

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (02) ◽  
pp. 1850014 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Sahoo ◽  
G. P. Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Quantum Efficiency ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Internal Quantum Efficiency ◽  
Spectral Response ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit

Recent trends of photovoltaics account for the conversion efficiency limit making them more cost effective. To achieve this we have to leave the golden era of silicon cell and make a path towards III–V compound semiconductor groups to take advantages like bandgap engineering by alloying these compounds. In this work we have used a low bandgap GaSb material and designed a single junction (SJ) cell with a conversion efficiency of 32.98%. SILVACO ATLAS TCAD simulator has been used to simulate the proposed model using both Ray Tracing and Transfer Matrix Method (under 1 sun and 1000 sun of AM1.5G spectrum). A detailed analyses of photogeneration rate, spectral response, potential developed, external quantum efficiency (EQE), internal quantum efficiency (IQE), short-circuit current density (J[Formula: see text]), open-circuit voltage (V[Formula: see text]), fill factor (FF) and conversion efficiency ([Formula: see text]) are discussed. The obtained results are compared with previously reported SJ solar cell reports.

Design and Numerical Simulation on the Optical and Electrical Behavior of a ZnO:Al Nanowire Array a-Si pin Solar Cell

2008 ◽  
Vol 1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Wei Liu ◽  
Zingway Pei ◽  
Shu-Tong Chang ◽  
Ren-Yui Ho ◽  
Min-Wei Ho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Carrier Transport ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Nanowire Array ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Si Solar Cell ◽  
Sun Light

AbstractOne of the parameters that limit the efficiency of a thin film solar cell, especially the a-Si and the nc-Si solar cell is the cell thickness. Although thicker film can absorb most of the sun light, the optical generated carriers will recombination through the numerous gap states in the film that obtained lower short circuit current and fill factor. In the controversy, thinner film could not absorb enough sun light that also limit the short circuit current. In this works, we utilize nanowire structure to solve the conflict between the light absorption and the carrier transport. The designed structure has ZnO:Al nanowire array on the substrate. The p-i-n a-Si solar cell structure is grown along the surface of each ZnO: Al nanowire sequentially. Under sunlight illumination, the light is absorbed in the axis direction of the nanowire. However, the carrier transport is along the radial direction of the solar cell. Therefore, the long nanowire could absorb most of the solar light. In the mean time, the thickness of the solar cell still is thin enough for photo-generated carrier transport. The dependence of short circuit current, open circuit voltage and fill factor to the length, diameter and density of ZnO:Al nanowires were simulated.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PHOSPHORUS-DOPED AMORPHOUS CARBON FILMS GROWN BY R. F. PLASMA-ENHANCED CVD WITH A NOVEL PHOSPHORUS SOLID TARGET

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 19-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. RUSOP ◽  
M. ADACHI ◽  
T. SOGA ◽  
T. JIMBO
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Amorphous Carbon ◽  
Current Density ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Phosphorus Doped

Phosphorus-doped amorphous carbon (n-C:P) films were grown by r. f.-power-assisted plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at room temperature using a novel solid red phosphorus target. The influence of phosphorus doping on material properties of n-C:P based on the results of simultaneous characterization are reported. Moreover, the solar cell properties such as series resistance, short circuit current density, open circuit current voltage, fill factor and conversion efficiency along with the spectral response are reported for the fabricated carbon-based n-C:P/p-Si heterojunction solar cell that was measured by standard measurement technique. The cells performances have been given in the dark I–V rectifying curve and I–V working curve under illumination when exposed to AM 1.5 illumination condition (100 mW/cm 2, 25°C). The maximum of open-circuit voltage (V oc ) and short-circuit current density (J sc ) for the cells are observed to be approximately 236 V and 7.34, mAcm 2 respectively for the n-C:P/p-Si cell grown at lower r. f. power of 100 W. The highest energy conversion efficiency (η) and fill factor (FF) were found to be approximately 0.84% and 49%, respectively. We have observed that the rectifying nature of the heterojunction structures is due to the nature of n-C:P films.

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