Optimization of the solar cell based on cadmium telluride by adding the CdSeTe absorbing layer (heterostructure simulation)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2024.314234

Keywords:

solar cell, SCAPS, thin films, heterostructures, cadmium telluride, cadmium chalcogenide

Abstract

Cadmium telluride solar cells are among the most common devices for photovoltaic applications. However, the energy conversion efficiency of these elements remains insufficiently high. Using the SCAPS programming environment, research and optimization of a classical thin-film solar cell based on CdTe were carried out. The structure of this element consisted of ITO as a transparent conductive contact, a cadmium sulfide (CdS) layer, and a cadmium telluride (CdTe) absorber layer with a metal contact. To optimize this structure in terms of power conversion efficiency, the influence of the thickness and concentration of acceptor impurities in the CdTe absorbing layer, as well as the influence of the thickness and concentration of donor impurities in the CdS buffer layer, were considered. It was established that the optimal thicknesses for the CdS buffer layer and absorption CdTe layers are 50 nm and 3000 nm, respectively. An additional CdSeTe layer between the CdS and CdTe layers has been proposed as one of the optimization options to improve the device efficiency. The main photovoltaic parameters of such a solar cell were analyzed depending on the thickness of the CdSeTe layer and its selenium content. It has been demonstrated that adding CdSeTe solid solution to the 1500 nm thick CdTe absorber layer increases the efficiency of the solar cell by 6.84 %. The main photovoltaic characteristics of CdS/CdTe and CdS/CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells were compared. The results showed that the simulated CdS/CdSeTe/CdTe structure provides better photoconversion efficiency in the AM1.5G light spectrum compared to the classical CdS/CdTe structure. Such elements can be used to form highly efficient solar panels

Author Biographies

Hryhorii Ilchuk, Lviv Polytechnic National University

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor

Department of General Physics

Ihor Semkiv, Lviv Polytechnic National University

PhD

Department of General Physics

Maryana Karkulovska, Lviv Polytechnic National University

PhD

Department of General Physics

Vitalii Vashchynskyi, Lviv Polytechnic National University

PhD

Department of General Physics

Mykola Solovyov, Lviv Polytechnic National University

PhD

Department of General Physics

References

  1. Green, M. A., Dunlop, E. D., Hohl‐Ebinger, J., Yoshita, M., Kopidakis, N., Hao, X. (2021). Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 58). Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 29 (7), 657–667. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3444
  2. Thompson, N., Ballen, J. (2017). First Solar. MIT Management Sloan School. Available at: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2020-03/First%20Solar.IC_.pdf
  3. Romeo, A., Artegiani, E. (2021). CdTe-Based Thin Film Solar Cells: Past, Present and Future. Energies, 14 (6), 1684. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14061684
  4. Mohamed, H. A. (2015). Optimized conditions for the improvement of thin film CdS/CdTe solar cells. Thin Solid Films, 589, 72–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2015.04.081
  5. Morales-Acevedo, A. (2006). Thin film CdS/CdTe solar cells: Research perspectives. Solar Energy, 80 (6), 675–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2005.10.008
  6. Dharmadasa, I. M., Alam, A. E., Ojo, A. A., Echendu, O. K. (2019). Scientific complications and controversies noted in the field of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells and the way forward for further development. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 30 (23), 20330–20344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02422-6
  7. Yang, X., Liu, B., Li, B., Zhang, J., Li, W., Wu, L., Feng, L. (2016). Preparation and characterization of pulsed laser deposited a novel CdS/CdSe composite window layer for CdTe thin film solar cell. Applied Surface Science, 367, 480–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.01.224
  8. Ibrahim, M., Chelvanathan, P., Miraz, M. H., Alkhammash, H. I., Hasan, A. K. M., Akhtaruzzaman, Md. et al. (2022). Comprehensive study on CdSe thin film as potential window layer on CdTe solar cell by SCAPD-1D. Chalcogenide Letters, 19 (1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.15251/cl.2022.191.33
  9. Li, C., Hu, G., Hao, X., Li, C., Tan, B., Wang, Y. et al. (2021). Performance improvement of CdS/CdTe solar cells by incorporation of CdSe layers. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 32 (14), 19083–19094. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-06425-0
  10. Lingg, M., Buecheler, S., Tiwari, A. N. (2019). Review of CdTe1−xSex Thin Films in Solar Cell Applications. Coatings, 9 (8), 520. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings9080520
  11. Paudel, N. R., Yan, Y. (2014). Enhancing the photo-currents of CdTe thin-film solar cells in both short and long wavelength regions. Applied Physics Letters, 105 (18). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901532
  12. Fiducia, T. A. M., Mendis, B. G., Li, K., Grovenor, C. R. M., Munshi, A. H., Barth, K. et al. (2019). Understanding the role of selenium in defect passivation for highly efficient selenium-alloyed cadmium telluride solar cells. Nature Energy, 4 (6), 504–511. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0389-z
  13. Poplawsky, J. D., Guo, W., Paudel, N., Ng, A., More, K., Leonard, D., Yan, Y. (2016). Structural and compositional dependence of the CdTexSe1−x alloy layer photoactivity in CdTe-based solar cells. Nature Communications, 7 (1). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12537
  14. Burgelman, M., Nollet, P., Degrave, S. (2000). Modelling polycrystalline semiconductor solar cells. Thin Solid Films, 361-362, 527–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0040-6090(99)00825-1
  15. Zheng, X., Kuciauskas, D., Moseley, J., Colegrove, E., Albin, D. S., Moutinho, H. et al. (2019). Recombination and bandgap engineering in CdSeTe/CdTe solar cells. APL Materials, 7 (7). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5098459
  16. Doroody, C., Sajedur Rahman, K., Chelvanathan, P., Adib Ibrahim, M., Sopian, K., Amin, N. et al. (2023). Incorporation of Magnesium-doped Zinc Oxide (MZO) HRT Layer in Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Solar Cells. Results in Physics, 47, 106337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rinp.2023.106337
  17. Nykyruy, L. I., Yavorskyi, R. S., Zapukhlyak, Z. R., Wisz, G., Potera, P. (2019). Evaluation of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells: SCAPS thickness simulation and analysis of optical properties. Optical Materials, 92, 319–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2019.04.029
  18. Bhari, B. Z., Rahman, K. S., Chelvanathan, P., Ibrahim, M. A. (2023). Plausibility of ultrathin CdTe solar cells: probing the beneficial role of MgZnO (MZO) high resistivity transparent (HRT) layer. Journal of Materials Science, 58 (40), 15748–15761. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09001-5
  19. Filipe, D. I., Chenene, M. L. (2023). Front interface defect signature and benefits of CdSeTe thickness and band gap in CdSeTe/CdTe graded solar cell. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3462048/v2
  20. Zyoud, S. H., Zyoud, A. H., Ahmed, N. M., Abdelkader, A. F. I. (2021). Numerical Modelling Analysis for Carrier Concentration Level Optimization of CdTe Heterojunction Thin Film–Based Solar Cell with Different Non–Toxic Metal Chalcogenide Buffer Layers Replacements: Using SCAPS–1D Software. Crystals, 11 (12), 1454. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11121454
  21. Liu, X., Abbas, A., Togay, M., Kornienko, V., Greenhalgh, R., Curson, K. et al. (2024). The effect of remnant CdSe layers on the performance of CdSeTe/CdTe photovoltaic devices. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 267, 112717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2024.112717
  22. Munshi, A. H., Kephart, J., Abbas, A., Raguse, J., Beaudry, J.-N., Barth, K. et al. (2018). Polycrystalline CdSeTe/CdTe Absorber Cells With 28 mA/cm2 Short-Circuit Current. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 8 (1), 310–314. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2017.2775139
Optimization of the solar cell based on cadmium telluride by adding the CdSeTe absorbing layer (heterostructure simulation)

Downloads

Published

2024-10-31

How to Cite

Ilchuk, H., Semkiv, I., Karkulovska, M., Vashchynskyi, V., & Solovyov, M. (2024). Optimization of the solar cell based on cadmium telluride by adding the CdSeTe absorbing layer (heterostructure simulation). Eastern-European Journal of Enterprise Technologies, 5(5 (131), 6–12. https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2024.314234

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 5 (131) (2024): Applied physics

Section

Applied physics

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Hryhorii Ilchuk, Ihor Semkiv, Maryana Karkulovska, Vitalii Vashchynskyi, Mykola Solovyov

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The consolidation and conditions for the transfer of copyright (identification of authorship) is carried out in the License Agreement. In particular, the authors reserve the right to the authorship of their manuscript and transfer the first publication of this work to the journal under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license. At the same time, they have the right to conclude on their own additional agreements concerning the non-exclusive distribution of the work in the form in which it was published by this journal, but provided that the link to the first publication of the article in this journal is preserved.

A license agreement is a document in which the author warrants that he/she owns all copyright for the work (manuscript, article, etc.).
The authors, signing the License Agreement with TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC, have all rights to the further use of their work, provided that they link to our edition in which the work was published.
According to the terms of the License Agreement, the Publisher TECHNOLOGY CENTER PC does not take away your copyrights and receives permission from the authors to use and dissemination of the publication through the world's scientific resources (own electronic resources, scientometric databases, repositories, libraries, etc.).
In the absence of a signed License Agreement or in the absence of this agreement of identifiers allowing to identify the identity of the author, the editors have no right to work with the manuscript.
It is important to remember that there is another type of agreement between authors and publishers – when copyright is transferred from the authors to the publisher. In this case, the authors lose ownership of their work and may not use it in any way.