Abstract
Background/objectives: The usage of Cadmium makes the solar cell very harmful to nature. In order to reduce the usage of Cadmium content in the dual buffer layered Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide (CIGS) solar cell, the buffer layer material properties could be tuned. Methods: The current-voltage behaviour of the CIGS solar cell is investigated on the effect of the buffer layer thickness combination by a numerical simulation using SCAPS 1D. Findings: The results indicate that the simulated model with a dual buffer layer shows higher efficiency compared to the individual CdS and ZnS single buffer layered solar cells. Applications: It is also found that 10 nm CdS in combination with 50 nm ZnS provides a maximum conversion efficiency of 25.149%.Keywords: Dual Buffer Layer, CIGS, SCAPS, Numerical Simulation.
Highlights
The Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide (CIGS) solar cell has received much attention in the photovoltaic (PV) industry when compared to the other conventional solar cell due to its desirable properties such as low production cost and flexibility.[1]
From the tabulated results it is noted that the photon conversion efficiency of ZnS buffer layered CIGS solar cell is superior to that of the CdS buffer layered CIGS cell
When the buffer layer is of either ZnS or CdS as a single buffer layer with 60 nm of thickness, the photon conversion efficiency is relatively low compared to the dual buffer layered CIGS solar cell
Summary
The Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide (CIGS) solar cell has received much attention in the photovoltaic (PV) industry when compared to the other conventional solar cell due to its desirable properties such as low production cost and flexibility.[1]. This high refractive index of ZnS increases the photon absorption in the CIGS absorber layer and assists the solar cell to provide higher efficiency.[9,10] So as to produce a photovoltaic cell that is highly efficient and eco-friendly, two aspects come at this point; one is, using a buffer layer material with a wider bandgap in order to increase absorption of more light and the other is to reduce or avoid the cadmium content completely For this purpose, the dual buffer layer can be adopted which promises a higher conversion efficiency. The electrical behaviour of the CIGS solar cell has investigated and the effective thickness composition ratio of the CdS:ZnS buffer layer is determined in this simulation study
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