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Optimizing electrical properties and efficiency of copper-doped CdS and CdTe solar cells through advanced ETL and HTL integration: a comprehensive experimental and numerical study

  • Ipsita Jena ORCID logo and Udai P. Singh ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: December 4, 2024
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International Journal of Materials Research
From the journal International Journal of Materials Research Volume 115 Issue 11-12

Abstract

Copper is a commonly preferred dopant for cadmium telluride based solar cells. Even though it is widely used as it enhances the electrical properties, it has the tendency to diffuse into the CdTe layer as well as the CdS/CdTe junction interface which adversely affects the performance of CdTe solar cells. In this experimental study copper doping of buffer cadmium sulfide layer has been performed to analyse its effect on structural, electrical, and optical properties of CdS and CdTe layers. While from the X-ray diffraction analysis it was observed that there was reduction in peak intensities and crystallite sizes of both the CdS and CdTe layers with the increase in amount of copper dopant, from the electrical properties it was found that there were improvements in carrier concentration, mobility, and conductivity of both the layers. To mitigate the losses due to Cu doping, enhance the efficiency and stability of CdTe solar cells an extensive numerical modelling approach was undertaken to employ electron transport layers (ETL) and hole transport layers (HTL) to the copper-doped CdS/CdTe solar cells. We obtained optimum results with titanium dioxide and copper barium thiostannate as ETL and HTL respectively. Finally, CdTe-based solar cells were modelled integrating copper-doped CdS as the buffer layers, TiO2 as ETL and CBTS as HTL respectively. The obtained experimental values of Cu-doped CdS and CdTe layers were implemented into this model. This superstrate configuration yielded impressive output parameters: open circuit voltage of 1.07 V, short-circuit current density of 29.32 mA cm−2, fill factor of 85.08 %, and efficiency of 26.67 %.

Keywords: copper-doped CdS; CdTe; TiO2 ; CBTS; electron transport layers and hole transport layers
Corresponding author: Udai P. Singh, School of Electronics Engineering, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, 751024, Odisha, India, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude to to Prof. Marc Burgelman from ELSI, University of Gent, Belgium for the SCAPS software.

  1. Research ethics: Not applicable.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.

  5. Conflict of interest: The authors state no conflict of interest.

  6. Research funding: The authors acknowledge financial support from DST, India (SR/FST/ET-1/2021/862).

  7. Data availability: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/ijmr-2024-0050).

Received: 2024-02-03
Accepted: 2024-06-20
Published Online: 2024-12-04
Published in Print: 2024-11-26

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijmr-2024-0050
Keywords for this article
copper-doped CdS; CdTe; TiO2; CBTS; electron transport layers and hole transport layers

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. 5th International Conference on Processing and Characterization of Materials 2023 (ICPCM 2023)
  4. Original Papers
  5. Experimental studies on coal mine over-burden incorporated concrete as a sustainable substitute for fine aggregate in concrete construction
  6. A complex impedance spectroscopy study on PVDF/PANI/CoFe2O4 composites
  7. Optimizing electrical properties and efficiency of copper-doped CdS and CdTe solar cells through advanced ETL and HTL integration: a comprehensive experimental and numerical study
  8. Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite from Ariidea fish bone as reinforcement material for (chios mastic gum: papyrus vaccine pollen) bio composite bony scaffold
  9. Optimization of the process parameter of lean-grade self-reducing pellets by surface response modelling
  10. From raw materials to functional material: synthesis and piezoelectric characterization of PIN–PT binary relaxor material
  11. Effect of ball milling on bulk MoS2 and the development of Al–MoS2 nanocomposites by powder metallurgy route
  12. Effect of beeswax on the physico-mechanical properties of poly (butylene adipate terephthalate)/poly lactic acid blend films
  13. Effect of Y2O3, TiO2, ZrO2 dispersion on oxidation resistance of W–Ni–Nb–Mo alloys
  14. Multifunctional characterisation of pressureless sintered Al2O3 –CaTiO3 nanocomposite
  15. Silicon–carbon superhydrophobic nano-structure for next generation semiconductor industry
  16. Interrelation between mechanical and electromagnetic radiation emission parameters with variable notch-width ratios under tensile fracture in silicon steel
  17. Effect of tool rotation and welding speed on microstructural and mechanical properties of dissimilar AA6061-T6 and AA5083-H12 joint in friction stir welding
  18. Effect of bentonite and molasses binder content on physical and mechanical properties of green and fired mill scale pellets
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