Performance Of Silicon Solar Cells Research Articles

Evaluation of the Performance of Silicon Solar Cell with Fresnel Lens as Photovoltaic Solar Concentrator

In this paper, the performance of a silicon cell with a Fresnel lens (FL) for building a solar photovoltaic concentrator system was evaluated; the solar concentrator is a Fresnel lens, which is a point concentrator made of polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) as a thin lens for the optics system.
 As the radiation from the sun on the solar cell is concentrated to the levels of solar radiation of 750, 1300, 1930, 2600, 4250, 7250, and 10500) W/m2, the work was conducted at the midday in summer weather conditions, with ambient temperatures ranging 40-45 °C. The evaluation was performed in three cases; each case was conducted in succession. The performance of the cell was evaluated first without a cooling system, and then it was evaluated using the heat-sink (phenolic (pcb) printed circuit boards type). Finally, the fan with the heat-sink was used as a cooling system, which was more effective in dissipating the heat generated in the solar cell. The evaluation, based on the current and voltage (I-V) results with cell temperature, showed the following efficiency values for the abovementioned three cases, respectively:(6.91 ,7.76 ,6.65 ,7.77 ,6.27 ,4.74 ,3.37 ) %, (7.41 , 9.21 , 7.5 , 8.31 , 9.71 ,7.53 ,4.72 ) %, and (7.63 ,9.34 , 7.57, 8.37 , 10.2 ,7.75, 4.7) %.

Micro crack imaging of silicon solar cells with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)

Both monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon based solar cells are proven to be widely used in the photovoltaic industry compared to other solar cell material such as titanium oxide or germanium due to abundant materials and economical production processes, however the problem occurs due to internal (crack) defects in the silicon wafers. The cracks of silicon solar cells occur due to the manufacturing process or when applying them to the field in a relatively short time. Research was also carried out to determine the cause of the cracks and how much damage had occurred that affected the performance of silicon solar cells. By using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) we will prove that, is it clear that the damage caused by production failure of external influences causes defects (micro cracks), holes, burns and so on. The advanced technology owned by SEM is expected to be reliable to find the location of the damage quickly and precisely because the result displayed are very accurate so that it is expected to be an evaluation for the solar cell production process in the future.

Study of ultrathin‐film amorphous silicon solar cell performance using photonic and plasmonic nanostructure

The photonic and plasmonic nanostructures are highly feasible for enhanced light trapping mechanisms. These nanostructures hold great promises for better photovoltaic performance by yielding the highest light-harvesting photons within the few nanometer absorber regions. The shed light on the nano-scaled structures (thin films and nanogratings) is responsible for the highest scattering mechanism with the omnidirectional diffraction angles and enhanced life time of the photons. In this research work, we have focused on improved ultrathin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cell performance, which was integrated by top-SiO2 and bottom-Ag nanogratings as a backside reflector by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis method. The SiO2 antireflection coating, nanogratings, and absorber (a-Si) layer thicknesses were optimized for better photovoltaic performance. With the influence of optimization parameters, the highest current density of 27.03 and 33.53 mA/cm2 were obtained from transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarization conditions due to the surface guided-mode, Fabry–Perot resonance, surface excitation, localized fields, and surface plasmon polariton modes.

Simulation approach of new photovoltaic structures based on epitaxial silicon thin layers on a monocrystalline silicon substrate

In the photovoltaic field, research is focused on two important axes: increasing cell efficiency, and reducing fabrication costs. To reduce the cost of the base materials, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the active layers. The basic idea is to make a layer of high structural and electronic quality silicon of small thickness (10–50 μm). This layer could be grown by epitaxial techniques on a low-cost monocrystalline silicon substrate with an emitter formed by phosphorus diffusion. The silicon layer is characterized by a diffusion length comparable to its thickness, a value that can be expected for the epitaxial layers. This study aims to optimize the physical and technological performances of a crystalline silicon solar cell deposited by an epitaxial process on a low-cost monocrystalline silicon substrate with large thicknesses since there is no reflector on the backside. This structure is characterized by the following parameters: (Thickness of the base layer XB = 56 μm, the efficiency η = 15.2%, the open-circuit voltage Voc = 623 mV and the short-circuit current Isc = 30 mA). The calculations were carried out by the PC1D software, aiming to find a new solar cell structure by keeping the same characteristic parameters mentioned above (η, Isc, and Voc) while decreasing the thickness of this solar cell. The effect of the different parameters on the performance of the solar cell was investigated. The obtained results showed that it is possible to reduce the substrate thickness from 56 to 30 μm while keeping the same characteristics parameters of the cell (η = 15.2%, Voc = 622.7 mV, Isc = 30.1 mA).

Fabrication of inverted pyramid structure for high-efficiency silicon solar cells using metal assisted chemical etching method with CuSO4 etchant

Inverted pyramid texture is used to improve the performance of single crystalline silicon (sc-Si) solar cell due to its excellent light-trapping properties. In this paper, inverted pyramid structures are fabricated on large area sc-Si wafers by metal assisted chemical etching method using CuSO 4 instead of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 . Three groups of solar cells were fabricated with textured structures prepared by CuSO 4, Cu(NO 3 ) 2 and NaOH respectively. The surface microstructure, average reflectivity, surface recombination and auger recombination, internal quantum efficiency and external quantum efficiency of the sc-Si solar cells were studied in detail. The results show that CuSO 4 can prepare uniform inverted pyramid structures on silicon substrate by reducing the generation of bubbles and promoting the deposition copper nano-particles on the surface of sc-Si wafer, and thus improve the properties of solar cells. More importantly, the chemical reaction mechanism for etching silicon wafer with CuSO 4 and Cu(NO 3 ) 2 during the texturing process was compared and analyzed. Finally, the average efficiency of large-area sc-Si PERC solar cells fabricated by CuSO 4 was 22.63%, which was 0.60% absolutely higher than that of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 , and 1.56% higher than normal pyramid group.

Enhancing Photovoltaic Performance of Porous Silicon Solar Cells with Al2O3 Nanoparticles prepared by electrolysis method

In this work nanocrystalline porous silicon (PSi) prepared by electrochemical etching of p type silicon wafers. PSi is characterised by means of XRD, FTIR and AFM. Crystallites length become expected with the aid of X-Ray diffraction. Atomic Force microscopy confirmed the nanometric size. Colloidal Al2O3 nanoparticles prepared via electrolysis method and deposited using drop-casting method as a thin film. The structural, morphological, optical homes of Al2O3 NPs were investigated. The effect of Al2O3 NPs diffusion at the holes of PSi sun mobile have stated which exhibits an improvement in (Ag/Al2O3/PSi/Si/Al) solar cell performance.

Dopants for Enhanced Performance of Tin-Based Perovskite Solar Cells—A Short Review

Lead-based perovskite solar cells had reached a bottleneck and demonstrated significant power conversion efficiency (PCE) growth matching the performance of traditional polycrystalline silicon solar cells. Lead-containing perovskite solar cell technology is on the verge of commercialization and has huge potential to replace silicon solar cells, but despite the very promising future of these perovskite solar cells, the presence of water-soluble toxic lead content is a growing concern in the scientific community and a major bottleneck for their commercialization. The less toxic, tin-based perovskite solar cells are promising alternatives for lead-free perovskite solar cells. Like lead-based perovskite, the general chemical formula composition of tin-based perovskite is ASnX3, where A is a cation and X is an anion (halogen). It is evident that tin-based perovskites, being less-toxic with excellent photoelectric properties, show respectable performance. Recently, numerous studies reported on the fabrication of Sn-based perovskite solar cells. However, the stability of this novel lead-free alternative material remains a big concern. One of the many ways to stabilize these solar cells includes addition of dopants. In this context, this article summarizes the most important fabrication routes employing dopants that have shown excellent stability for tin-based perovskite photovoltaics and elaborates the prospects of lead-free, tin based stable perovskite photovoltaics.

Measurement and Analysis of Optical Properties of Polymer Films with Triangular Pyramid Optical Functional Texture

A poly (vinyl chloride) film with triangular pyramid array structure was designed and fabricated. In this paper, a plane to plane hot embossing technique is used to fabricate a triangular pyramid antireflection film on the surface of single crystal silicon solar cells. By testing the optical properties of optical functional textured films, it is found that the reflectivity of triangular pyramid textured films obtained by hot embossing is significantly lower than that of smooth flat films; The absorption and antireflection of high light on the film surface are obvious; The photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell is further improved. Triangular pyramid optical functional structure has great potential in improving the performance of silicon solar cells, which can be applied to different types of solar cells. These improvements are of great significance to the commercialization of silicon solar cell devices.

Assessing the Impact of Front Grid Metallization Pattern on the Performance of BSF Silicon Solar Cells

Assessing the Impact of Front Grid Metallization Pattern on the Performance of BSF Silicon Solar Cells

Surface engineering of zinc sulphide film for augmenting the performance of polycrystalline silicon solar cells

The current work focused on enhancing solar cell’s Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) while using zinc sulphide (ZnS) material as Anti-Reflective Coating (ARC). The ZnS layers were deposited over the solar cell surface by RF sputtering technique. The coating was performed in argon gas atmosphere with sputtering time such as 10, 20, 30 & 40 min represented as S-I, S-II, S-III and S-IV respectively. The power conversion efficiency of ZnS coating on polycrystalline silicon solar cells was studied by evaluating optical properties, electrical characteristics, structure morphology and temperature study. It is observed that the S-III coating exhibits optimum hall mobility (µ),improved carrier concentration (N) and electrical resistivity (ρ) and the measured values are 12.88 cm2V -1 s - 1 , 3.98×10-3 Ω-cm and 21.88×1020 cm-3 respectively. The maximum PCE of 17.39% and 19.12% are obtained for S-III coating at open source condition and controlled source condition respectively. The effect of operating temperature on ZnS coated solar cells at both open source and controlled source condition is also investigated. The results revealed that the ZnS can be reliable ARC for improving the power conversion efficiency of solar cells.

Design and Optimization of the Antireflective Coating Properties of Silicon Solar Cells by Using Response Surface Methodology

The design and optimization of a nanostructured antireflective coatings for Si solar cells were performed by using response surface methodology (RSM). RSM was employed to investigate the effect on the overall optical performance of silicon solar cells coated with three different nanoparticle materials of titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, and zinc oxide nanostructures. Central composite design was used for the optimization of the reflectance process and to study the main effects and interactions between the three process variables: nanomaterial type, the radius of nanoparticles, and wavelength of visible light. In this theoretical study, COMSOL Multiphysics was utilized to design the structures by using the wave optics module. The optical properties of the solar cell’s substrate and the three different nanomaterial types were studied. The results indicated that ZnO nanoparticles were the best antireflective coating candidate for Si, as the ZnO nanoparticles produced the lowest reflection values among the three nanomaterial types. The study reveals that the optimum conditions to reach minimum surface reflections for silicon solar cell were established by using ZnO nanoparticles with a radius of ~38 nm. On average, the reflectance reached ~5.5% along the visible spectral range, and approximately zero reflectance in the 550–600 nm range.

Effect of anti-reflection coating on the performance of silicon solar cells with nanocrystalline quantum dots downshifting film

This experiment explores the effect of lithium fluoride (LiF) antireflection coating (ARC) on the performance of commercial silicon solar cells with mist deposited nanocrystalline quantum dots (NQD) downshifting film. The effect of blanket deposited and patterned NQD and ARC films is investigated. Significant improvement of the performance of cells with ARC is observed. Specifically, 67% increase in the average external quantum efficiency of silicon solar cells covered with AR coating in the UV range of 300–400 nm is noted. The micropatterning of NQD/LiF films improves light trapping inside the cell and enhances power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cell by 19.5%. Overall, this experiment demonstrates that the ARC formation on top of the mist deposited NQD downshifting film results in measurable improvement in the performance of the commercial silicon solar cells.

Exergy Modeling of Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells with Spectral Irradiation Variations

Exergy modeling was made to analyze the work performance of monocrystalline silicon solar cells. Analysis is done by making modeling and simulation of the equation and parameter data that affect the amount of photon energy and the exergy rate at PV. The incident radiation source used varies on the (0.05, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 Suns) in the AM1.5G spectral response standard. Calculation analysis with the model made shows that the PV module photonic energy is greater than the photonic exergy, this is related to the irreversibility of the PV module conversion system.

Investigation of Silicon Solar Cells under Submerged Conditions with the Influence of Various Parameters: A Comparative Study

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is one of the emerging technologies in underwater power systems such as water monitoring and sensing devices in marine environments. Harnessing the underwater solar energy is a massive advantage because of the abundant amount of solar energy and space covered by water on the surface of the Earth. Currently, the utilization of underwater solar PV systems has several issues such as cooling, cleaning, and land constraints facing in terrestrial conditions. Still, the PV systems has the ability to operate in underwater environments and to interface with other marine power systems in a hybrid manner. Therefore, there is a need to further study and understand the utility of solar PV in underwater conditions. Herein, a comparative analysis on underwater solar radiation and the performance of various silicon solar cells using different water conditions, in a controlled indoor atmosphere, are carried out. The propagation of solar radiation underwater is investigated as a function of water depths and changing water settings such as in the presence of dissolved salts and solids. This work demonstrates that the solar energy in water can also be extracted with solar PV cells to produce electricity for several industrial, defense, naval, and marine applications.

Numerical Analysis of Selective ITO/a-Si:H Contacts in Heterojunction Silicon Solar Cells: Effect of Defect States in Doped a-Si:H Layers on Performance Parameters

The effects of defect states in doped thin-film amorphous-silicon layers (p-a-Si:H and n-a-Si:H) and at heterointerfaces of the passivated crystalline-silicon (c-Si) wafer on the performance of heterojunction silicon solar cells are investigated using optoelectrical simulations. We used a state-of-the-art numerical model of a silicon heterojunction solar cell, including indium-tin-oxide (ITO) contacts as semiconductor layers, applying the accompanying tunneling mechanisms. We show that increasing the dangling-bond density in the p-a-Si:H reduces the conversion efficiency of the device more than in the n-a-Si:H, independent of the doping type of the c-Si wafer and illumination side of the device. Simulations revealed that this is due to: a larger ITO work-function mismatch with the p-a-Si:H than the n-a-Si:H; a larger valence-band offset at i-a-Si:H/n-c-Si interface at the p-side compared to the conduction-band offset at the n-side i-a-Si:H/n-c-Si; and asymmetric distribution of defects in the doped a-Si:H layers. The effects of individual defect-state parameters in doped a-Si:H layers and c-Si heterointerfaces are shown. We demonstrate that the decrease in conversion efficiency due to increased dangling-bond states in doped layers is primarily a consequence of a reduced fill-factor and open-circuit voltage. We explain the phenomenon by charge-redistribution linked to increased dangling-bond density in p-a-Si:H, whereas the increased free-charge recombination has only little effect on the short-circuit-current density over a wide range of defect-state variation. Besides quantitative results of defect-state variation on solar cell performance, this article aims to offer a thorough understanding of the physical processes in the device, governing these effects.

Temperature-dependent performance of silicon solar cells with polysilicon passivating contacts

The temperature coefficient (TC) is a critical figure of merit to accurately evaluate the performance of solar cells at various operating temperatures, and hence, enabling the comparison between different cell technologies. Recently, tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells have shown outstanding cell performance. They are likely to be adopted in production lines and deployed in the field in the near future. Therefore, knowledge of their TCs and insights into their performance at realistic operating temperatures are of significant interest.In this study, we investigate the temperature dependence of the performance of TOPCon solar cells and quantify their TCs. To gain better understanding regarding the temperature-dependent behavior of their performance, the passivation quality and the contact resistivity of polysilicon (poly-Si) passivating contacts as a function of temperature are investigated. Although an improvement of the passivation quality of these contacts with increasing temperature has been observed, it seems that this improvement weakly impacts on the open-circuit voltage TC. The cell performance at elevated temperatures is dominated by the drop in the open-circuit voltage, associated with the intrinsic carrier concentration related to band gap narrowing. The fill factor TC (TCFF) is superior to those of other cell structures reported in the literature. We attribute this favorable TCFF to the fact that some of the fill factor losses are compensated by the decrease of contact resistivity of the poly-Si passivating contacts at elevated temperatures. The relative TC of the cell efficiency of the investigated TOPCon cells is comparable to the TC of silicon heterojunction cells and it is superior to those of cell structures without passivating contacts. Moreover, we found that the investigated solar cell is more sensitive to temperature variation at lower illumination intensities.

Improving the performance of textured silicon solar cells through the field‐effect passivation of aluminum oxide layers and up‐conversion via multiple coatings with Er/Yb‐doped phosphors

Improving the performance of textured silicon solar cells through the field‐effect passivation of aluminum oxide layers and up‐conversion via multiple coatings with Er/Yb‐doped phosphors

Solution-processed and annealing-free zirconium acetylacetonate electron-selective contacts for efficient crystalline silicon solar cells

The interfaces between n-type silicon (n-Si) and metal electrode contact have enormous influences on the performance and stability of silicon solar cells. Recently, it has been proven that the carrier-selective contact (CSC) is an effective strategy to improve the device efficiency. Herein, a solution-processed and annealing-free zirconium acetylacetonate (ZrAcac) layer is used as an electron-selective contact for fabricating efficient crystalline silicon solar cell. This contact scheme enabled a reduction in both the contact resistivity and the work function at the interface between n-Si and Al, which can be attributed to the dipole formation at the contact interface induced by charge transfer. The application of this ZrAcac based contact was shown to consistently improve all device parameters reaching a maximum power conversion efficiency of 17.8% with a high fill factor of 81.1%, and greatly improve the device stability. This work demonstrated that the ZrAcac layer can provide sufficient energy alignment and enhanced carrier selectivity for efficient and stable photovoltaic devices.

Enhancement of silicon solar cell performance by introducing selected defects in the [formula omitted] passivation layer

Deep level defects usually have harmful effect on solar cells. In this work it is shown; however, that correct incorporation of selected defects in the silicon oxide region of a silicon solar cell improves its efficiency. This is demonstrated by numerical simulation of n-type silicon-based solar cell including deep level defects in the silicon dioxide (SiO2) passivation layer. The defect density was varied to study its effect on the solar cell performance. The selected defects assist the majority carrier’s transport through their energy levels that are echoing with the band edge state, and repulse the minority carrier, therefore reducing recombination. It was found that well-defined deep defect density and a minimum thickness of the SiO2 passivation layer are required for high efficiency Si-based solar cells. The defects must be of a high density ( ∼1017cm-3), and energetically situated above the conduction band minimum (CBM) of the adjacent Si layer. With these considerations, the conversion efficiency attained 26 %. Furthermore, in the case of very thin passivation layer, the current through defects did not have any effect on the solar cell performance since the tunneling current goes directly through this tin layer.

Reliability of PERC Solar Cells under Alpha Irradiation: A Simulation-Based Study for Space Applications

The effects of alpha particles’ irradiation on the performance of simplified PERC silicon solar cells are studied through technology computer aided design (TCAD) simulations. The methodology adopted in this work incorporates the non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL) phenomenon to understand the radiation effects, which does not depend on extensive irradiation experimentations. Simulation results show that alpha particles in the range of ∼10 MeV and with fluence >1014 cm−2 lead to maximum performance degradation of the solar cell. Moreover, it is found that upon irradiating the solar cell with 1 MeV alpha particles, the output power reduces proportionally with increasing fluence due to the reduction of minority carrier lifetime in the base. On the other hand, the fill factor (FF) degrades by only <10% up to a fluence of ∼1013 cm−2, after which it decreases sharply. This trend reveals that the FF deteriorates significantly only when the irradiation process creates a Frenkel pair density that approaches the majority carrier density in the base. The methodology presented in this work opens new research avenues for potentially optimizing the solar cell design not only for better efficiency but also for improved reliability in radiation rich environments.