Complex Investigation of High Efficiency and Reliable Heterojunction Solar Cell Based on an Improved Cu2O Absorber Layer

This study is aimed at increasing the performance and reliability of silicon-based heterojunction solar cells with advanced methods. This is achieved by a numerical electro-optical modeling and reliability analysis for such solar cells correlated with experimental analysis of the Cu2O absorber layer...

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Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 18; p. 4667
Main Authors Fara, Laurentiu, Chilibon, Irinela, Nordseth, Ørnulf, Craciunescu, Dan, Savastru, Dan, Vasiliu, Cristina, Baschir, Laurentiu, Fara, Silvian, Kumar, Raj, Monakhov, Edouard, Connolly, James P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Norwegian
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2020
MDPI
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Summary:This study is aimed at increasing the performance and reliability of silicon-based heterojunction solar cells with advanced methods. This is achieved by a numerical electro-optical modeling and reliability analysis for such solar cells correlated with experimental analysis of the Cu2O absorber layer. It yields the optimization of a silicon tandem heterojunction solar cell based on a ZnO/Cu2O subcell and a c-Si bottom subcell using electro-optical numerical modeling. The buffer layer affinity and mobility together with a low conduction band offset for the heterojunction are discussed, as well as spectral properties of the device model. Experimental research of N-doped Cu2O thin films was dedicated to two main activities: (1) fabrication of specific samples by DC magnetron sputtering and (2) detailed characterization of the analyzed samples. This last investigation was based on advanced techniques: morphological (scanning electron microscopy—SEM and atomic force microscopy—AFM), structural (X-ray diffraction—XRD), and optical (spectroscopic ellipsometry—SE and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy—FTIR). This approach qualified the heterojunction solar cell based on cuprous oxide with nitrogen as an attractive candidate for high-performance solar devices. A reliability analysis based on Weibull statistical distribution establishes the degradation degree and failure rate of the studied solar cells under stress and under standard conditions.
Bibliography:NFR/251789
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en13184667