Photovoltaic parameter extraction and optimisation of ZnO/GO based hybrid solar trigeneration system using SCAPS 1D

Abstract

In this work, simulative investigation of Zinc Oxide/Graphene Oxide based novel hybrid solar trigeneration system has been performed to identify its photovoltaic parameters i.e. Current density (Jsc), Open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE), using SCAPS 1D (Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator) software. A comparison was made between the simulated and estimated experimental values for the cell under standard test conditions, which showed an all over good agreement. The simulated values of VOC, JSC, FF, PCE for ZnO/GO are 0.79 V, 12.46 mA/cm2, 52.14 %, 8.46 % respectively. The extracted experimental values are 0.72 V, 7.24 mA/cm2, 56.94 %, 9.12 % respectively. Further analysis is done to study the effect of graphene oxide layer thickness on PV properties of the cell. Also performance of ZnO/GO cell was compared to ZnO/SiO2 cell and it was found that the efficiency of the two is nearly similar when evaluated at 32 °C under 1 Sun and AM 1.5. A limiting factor in using the high-efficiency Si homojunction solar cell is its high fabrication cost. Hence here we try to replace GO with SiO2 because of its simpler synthesis and involved fabrication processes. But the only backdrop is its lower efficiency, which can be improved by rigorous simulation analysis of the organic semiconductor layer. The performance of the presented hybrid system has been estimated and differentiated with other known solar trigeneration system to evaluate the viability of the showcased model, provided physical constraints imposed by the environment are considered depending upon the system installation location.