Abstract
In the quest for better photovoltaic performance, we simulated the CdTe-based thin film solar cell in ITO/CdS/CdTe/Mo structure with SCAPS (Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator). SCAPS model makes possible to study the effect of the thickness of layers and the gap energy (Eg) of each layer (CdTe, CdS and ITO) on the electrical characteristics of outputs such as open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current density (Jsc), Form Factor (FF) and efficiency (&eta) of the cell. The results of the simulations were in good agreement with those of the literature and revealed that increasing the thickness of the ITO window layer and of the CdS buffer cell layer reduces the photovoltaic efficiency. Conversely, the conversion rate increases with the thickness of the CdTe absorbent layer. The optimized values of layer thicknesses and energy gap of the absorber layer of the CdTe solar cell provide good photovoltaic performance with an optimal efficiency of 22%.
Highlights
Today, photovoltaic solar energy is the most used by humans among renewable energies
J-V characteristic of the Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) solar cell: The characteristic J-V curve obtained by the simulation of the Indium Tin Oxyde (ITO)/Cadmium Sulfide (CdS)/CdTe/Mo cell to the values in Table 1 shows an efficiency of 21.54% (Fig. 2); which is close to that of practical CdTe solar cells (Gloeckler et al, 2013; Morales-Acevedo, 2006)
The evolution of parameters such as Jsc, Voc, Form Factor (FF) and in particular of the efficiency (η) according to the thickness of CdTe, CdS and ITO layers and of the gap energy of the absorbent layer is studied in the following paragraphs
Summary
Photovoltaic solar energy is the most used by humans among renewable energies. It offers many specific benefits for the environment, being a nonpolluting and inexhaustible source of energy available everywhere around the globe (Luan et al, 2017). The performance of a photovoltaic cell is highly dependent on the properties of its basic component layers. Controlling the properties of these layers will, effectively lead to an improvement of the performance of solar panels. The solar cells market is still dominated up to around 80% by crystalline silicon (Saga, 2010) which remains very expensive (Tchognia et al, 2015). One of the alternatives is the CdTe-based thin film solar cell (Saga, 2010)
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