Modeling and Simulation of Heterojunction Solar Cell with Mono Crystalline Silicon

The monocrystalline silicon is a promising material that could be used in solar cells that convert light into electricity. Although the cost of ordinary silicon (Si) solar cells has decreased significantly over the past two decades, the conversion efficiency of these cells has remained relatively high. While solar cells have a great potential as a device of renewable energy, the high cost they incur per Watt continues to be a significant barrier to their widespread implementation. As a consequence, it is vital to conduct research into alternate materials that may be used in the construction of solar cells. The heterojunction solar cell (HJSC), which is based on n-type zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and p-type silicon (p-Si), is one of the numerous alternatives of the typical Si single homojunction solar cell. There are many deficiencies that can be found in the published research on n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell. Inconsistencies in the stated value of open circuit voltage (Voc) of the solar cell are one example of deficiency. The absence of a full theoretical study to evaluate the potential of the solar cell structure is another deficiency that can be found in these researches. A lower value of experimentally obtained VOC in comparison to the theoretical prediction based on the band-gap between n-ZnO and p-Si. There needs to be more consensus among scientists regarding the optimal conditions for the growth of zinc oxide. Many software’s are available for simulating and optimizing the solar cells based on these parameters. For this purpose, in this dissertation, I provide computational results relevant to n-ZnO/p-Si HJSC to overcome deficiencies that have been identified. While modeling and simulating the potential of the solar cell structure with AFORS-HET, it is essential to consider the constraints that exist in the real world. AFORS-HET was explicitly designed to mimic the multilayer solar cell arrangement. In AFORS-HET, we can add up to seven layers for solar cell layout. By using this software, we can figure out the open circuit voltage (VOC), the short circuit current (JSC), the quantum efficiency (QE, %), the heterojunction energy band structure, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE).

Improving the UV-light stability of silicon heterojunction solar cells through plasmon-enhanced luminescence downshifting of YVO_(4):Eu^(3+),Bi^(3+)nanophosphors decorated with Ag nanoparticles

The ultraviolet(UV)light stability of silicon heterojunction(SHJ)solar cells should be addressed before large-scale production and applications.Introducing downshifting(DS)nanophosphors on top of solar cells that can convert UV light to visible light may reduce UV-induced degradation(UVID)without sacrificing the power conversion efficiency(PCE).Herein,a novel composite DS nanomaterial composed of YVO_(4):Eu^(3+),Bi^(3+)nanoparticles(NPs)and AgNPs was synthesized and introduced onto the incident light side of industrial SHJ solar cells to achieve UV shielding.The YVO_(4):Eu^(3+),Bi^(3+)NPs and Ag NPs were synthesized via a sol-gel method and a wet chemical reduction method,respectively.Then,a composite structure of the YVO_(4):Eu^(3+),Bi^(3+)NPs decorated with Ag NPs was synthesized by an ultrasonic method.The emission intensities of the YVO_(4):Eu^(3+),Bi^(3+)nanophosphors were significantly enhanced upon decoration with an appropriate amount of~20 nm Ag NPs due to the localized surface plasmon resonance(LSPR)effect.Upon the introduction of LSPR-enhanced downshifting,the SHJ solar cells exhibited an~0.54%relative decrease in PCE degradation under UV irradiation with a cumulative dose of 45 k W h compared to their counterparts,suggesting excellent potential for application in UV-light stability enhancement of solar cells or modules.

Effect of Valence Band Tail Width on the Open Circuit Voltage of P3HT:PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cell:AMPS-1D Simulation Study

The effect of the valence band tail width on the open circuit voltage of P3HT：PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cell is investigated by using the AMPS-1D computer program. An effective medium model with exponential valence and conduction band tail states is used to simulate the photovoltaic cell. The simulation result shows that the open circuit voltage depends Iinearly on the logarithm of the generation rate and the slope depends on the width of the valence band tail. The open circuit voltage decreases with the increasing width of the band tail. The dark and light ideality factors increase with the width of the valence band tail.

Indium–tin oxide films obtained by DC magnetron sputtering for improved Si heterojunction solar cell applications

The indium-tin oxide （ITO） film as the antireflection layer and front electrodes is of key importance to obtaining high efficiency Si heterojunction （HJ） solar cells. To obtain high transmittance and low resistivity ITO films by direct-current （DC） magnetron sputtering, we studied the impacts of the ITO film deposition conditions, such as the oxygen flow rate, pressure, and sputter power, on the electrical and optical properties of the ITO films. ITO films of resistivity of 4 x 10-4 ~.m and average transmittance of 89% in the wavelength range of 380-780 nm were obtained under the optimized conditions： oxygen flow rate of 0.1 sccm, pressure of 0.8 Pa, and sputtering power of 110 W. These ITO films were used to fabricate the single-side HJ solar cell without an intrinsic a-Si：H layer. However, the best HJ solar cell was fabricated with a lower sputtering power of 95 W, which had an efficiency of 11.47%, an open circuit voltage （Voc） of 0.626 V, a filling factor （FF） of 0.50, and a short circuit current density （Jsc） of 36.4 mA/cm2. The decrease in the performance of the solar cell fabricated with high sputtering power of 110 W is attributed to the ion bombardment to the emitter. The Voc was improved to 0.673 V when a 5 nm thick intrinsic a-Si：H layer was inserted between the （p） a-Si：H and （n） c-Si layer. The higher Voc of 0.673 V for the single-side HJ solar cell implies the excellent c-Si surface passivation by a-Si：H.

Influence of interface states, conduction band offset, and front contact on the performance of a-SiC：H(n)/c-Si(p)heterojunction solar cells

P-type silicon heterojunction（SHJ） solar cells with a-SiC：H（n） emitters were studied by numerical computer simulation in this paper. The influence of interface states, conduction band offset, and front contact on the performance of a-SiC：H（n）/c-Si（p） SHJ solar cells was investigated systematically. It is shown that the open circuit voltage（Voc） and fill factor（F F） are very sensitive to these parameters. In addition, by analyzing equilibrium energy band diagram and electric field distribution, the influence mechanisms that interface states, conduction band offset, and front contact impact on the carrier transport, interface recombination and cell performance were studied in detail. Finally, the optimum parameters for the a-SiC：H（n）/c-Si（p） SHJ solar cells were provided. By employing these optimum parameters, the efficiency of SHJ solar cell based on p-type c-Si was significantly improved.

Effect of emitter layer doping concentration on the performance of a silicon thin film heterojunction solar cell

A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si：H（15 nm）/a-Si：H（10 nm）/epitaxial c-Si（47 p.m）/epitaxial c-Si（3 um） structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer Sd （Sd=PH3/（PH3 ＋SiH4＋H2）） on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with Sd increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at Sd = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.

Nc-Si Thin Film Deposited at Low Temperature and Nc-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell

This paper reported some results about intrinsic nanocrystalline silicon thin films deposited by high frequency (HF) sputtering on p-type c-Si substrates at low temperature. Samples were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared absorption, and ellipsometry. XRD measurements show that this film has a new microstructure, which is different from the films deposited by other methods. The ellipsometry result gives that the optical band gap of the film is about 2.63 eV. In addition, the n-type nc-Si∶H/p-type c-Si heterojunction solar cell, which has open circuit voltage (U oc ) of 558 mV and short circuit current intensity (I sc ) of 29 mA/cm2, was obtained based on the nanocrystalline silicon thin film. Irradiated under AM1.5, 100 mW/cm2 light intensity, the U oc , I sc , and FF can keep stable for 10 h.

Characteristics of Polyaniline/Si Heterojunction Solar Cell By Electrochemical Dye Sensitization

Using the electrochemical polymerization dye sensitization(ECDS) method, polyaniline(PAn), which is used as top region material in solar cells, is sensitized with direct blue dye(DS), and sensitized Al grid/DS-PAn/n-Si/Al heterojunction solar cells is prepared by ECDS. Influences of the ECDS on the absorption spectrum and the junction characteristics of the solar cell were discussed, and the output characteristics were measured. The results show that the absorption spectrum of the sensitized PAn films is much wider and stronger in Vis-range; the diode quality factor is about 6.3 and the height of latent barrier potential of p-n junction is 0.89eV; the short-circuit current and the conversion efficiency of sensitized DS-PAn/Si heterojunction solar cells are greatly improved, which the short-circuit current can increase 6 times, the fill factor is 57% and the efficiency can reach 1.42% under the illumination of 37.2W/m^2, respectively.

Sub-stochiometric MoO_(x) by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering as hole-selective passivating contacts for silicon heterojunction solar cells

The silicon heterojunction(SHJ)solar cell has long been considered as one of the most promising candidates for the next-generation PV market.Transition metal oxides(TMOs)show good carrier selectivity when combined with c-Si solar cells.This has led to the rapid demonstration of the remarkable potential of TMOs(especially MoO_(x))with high work function to replace the p-type a-Si:H emitting layer.MoO_(x) can induce a strong inversion layer on the interface of n-type c-Si,which is beneficial to the extraction and conduction of holes.In this paper,the radio-frequency(RF)magnetron sputtering is used to deposit MoO_(x) films.The optical,electrical and structural properties of MoO_(x) films are measured and analyzed,with focus on the inherent compositions and work function.Then the MoO_(x) films are applied into SHJ solar cells.When the MoO_(x) works as a buffer layer between ITO/p-a-Si:H interface in the reference SHJ solar cell,a conversion efficiency of 19.1%can be obtained.When the MoOx is used as a hole transport layer(HTL),the device indicates a desirable conversion efficiency of 17.5%.To the best of our knowledge,this current efficiency is the highest one for the MoO_(x) film as HTL by RF sputtering.

Orthogonal Solubility in Fully Conjugated Donor-Acceptor Block Copolymers： Compatibilizers for Polymer/Fullerene Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells

Donor-acceptor （D-A） type fully conjugated block copolymer systems have been rarely reported due to the challenges in synthetic approaches to prepare well-defined low-polydispersity products. In this work, fully conjugated block copolymers are synthesized in a one-pot reaction through Stille coupling polycondensation, by utilizing the end-functional polymer copolymerization method. End-functional P3HT are copolymerized with AA （2,7-dihromo-9-（heptadecan-9-yl）-9H- carbazole） and BB （4,7-bis（5-（trimethylstannyl）thiophen-2-yl）benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole, TBT） type monomers, respectively. The orthogonal solubility between the very soluble P3HT donor and the insoluble PCDTBT acceptor block improves the purity of block copolymers as well as distinct nano-scale phase-separation compared with other reports on miscibility of donor and acceptor polymer block. Further purification via preparative GPC is carried out to remove the excess of unreacted P3HT and free PCDTBT as well as to achieve low polydispersity of block copolymers. The chemical structure of the P3HT- b-PCDTBT block copolymers are verified via IH-NMR, and further confirmed by FTIR spectra. The block copolymer shows broad absorption and moderate optical band gap of 1.8 eV. Furthermore, the fully conjugated block copolymer films exhibit significant fine structures, much smoother film morphology compared to P3HT/PCDTBT polymer blends. By adding a small amount of block copolymer P3HT-b-PCDTBT as a compatibilizer into the bulk-heterojunction of P3HT：PC61BM blends, polymer solar ceils with an 8% increase of short circuit current （Jse） and 10% increase of power conversion efficiency （PCE） are achieved owing to the improvement of the active-layer film morphology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on donor-acceptor type fully conjugated block copolymer as an effective ternary additive in polymer： fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Simulation of a high-efficiency silicon-based heterojunction solar cell

The basic parameters of a-Si：H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells, such as layer thickness, doping concen- tration, a-Si：H/c-Si interface defect density, and the work functions of the transparent conducting oxide （TCO） and back surface field （BSF） layer, are crucial factors that influence the carrier transport properties and the efficiency of the solar cells. The correlations between the carrier transport properties and these parameters and the performance of a-Si：H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells were investigated using the AFORS-HET program. Through the analysis and optimization of a TCO/n-a-Si：H/i-a-Si：H/p-c-Si/p＋-a-Si：H/Ag solar cell, a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 27.07% （Voc： 749 mV, Jsc： 42.86 mA/cm2, FF： 84.33%） was obtained through simulation. An in-depth understanding of the transport properties can help to improve the efficiency of a-Si：H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells, and provide useful guidance for actual heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer （HIT） solar cell manufacturing.

Improved hetero-interface passivation by microcrystalline silicon oxide emitter in silicon heterojunction solar cells

In this paper, we tion （SHJ） solar cells with prepared silicon heterojunc- the structure of p-c-Si/i-a- SiOx：H/n-μc-SiOx：H （a-SiOx：H, oxygen rich amorphous silicon oxide; μc-SiOx：H, microcrystalline silicon oxide） by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The influence of the n-μc-SiOx：H emitter thickness on the heterointerface passivation in SHJ solar cells was investi- gated. With increasing thickness, the crystallinity of the emitter as well as its dark conductivity increases. Mean- while, the effective minority carrier lifetime （teff） of the SHJ solar cell precursors at low injection level shows a pronounced increase trend, implying that an improved field effect passivation is introduced as the emitter is deposited. And, an increased μTelf is also observed at entire injection level due to the interfacial chemical passivation improved by the hydrogen diffusion along with the emitter deposition. Based on the analysis on the external quantum effi- ciency of the SHJ solar cells, it can be expected that the high efficient SHJ solar cells could be obtained by improving the heterointerface passivation and optimizing the emitter deposition process.

Fabrication and characterization of amorphous ITO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell

Amorphous indium-tin-oxide(a-ITO) film was deposited by radio-frequency(RF) magnetron sputtering at 180°C substrate temperature on the texturized p-Si wafer to fabricate a-ITO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell.The microstructural,optical and electrical properties of the a-ITO film were characterized by XRD,SEM,XPS,UV-VIS spectrophotometer,four-point probe and Hall effect measurement,respectively.The electrical properties of heterojunction were investigated by I-V measurement,which reveals that the heterojunction shows strong rectifying behavior under a dark condition.The ideality factor and the saturation current density of this diode are 2.26 and 1.58×10-4 A cm-2,respectively.And the value of IF/IR(IF and IR stand for forward and reverse currents,respectively) at 1 V is found to be as high as 21.5.For the a-ITO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell,the a-ITO thin film acts not only as an emitter layer,but also as an anti-reflected coating film.The conversion efficiency of the fabricated a-ITO/p-Si heterojunction cell is approximately 1.1%,under 100 mW cm-2 illumination(AM1.5 condition).And the open-circuit voltage(Voc),short-circuit current density(J SC),filll factor(FF) are 280 mV,9.83 mA cm 2 and 39.9%,respectively.Because the ITO film deposited at low temperature is amorphous,it can effectively reduce the interface states between ITO and p-Si.The barrier height and internal electric field,which is near the surface of p-Si,can effectively be enhanced.Thus we can see the great photovoltaic effect.

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of excellent a-Si：H passivation layers for a-Si：H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells at high pressure and high power

The intrinsic a-Si：H passivation layer inserted between the doped a-Si：H layer and the c-Si substrate is very crucial for improving the performance of the a-Si：H/c- Si heterojunction （SHJ） solar cell. The passivation performance of the a-Si：H layer is strongly dependent on its microstructure. Usually, the compact a-Si：H deposited near the transition from the amorphous phase to the nanocrystalline phase by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition （PECVD） can provide excellent passivation. However, at the low deposition pressure and low deposition power, such an a-Si：H layer can be only prepared in a narrow region. The deposition condition must be controlled very carefully. In this paper, intrinsic a- Si：H layers were prepared on n-type Cz c-Si substrates by 27.12 MHz PECVD at a high deposition pressure and high deposition power. The corresponding passivation perfor- mance on c-Si was investigated by minority carrier lifetime measurement. It was found that an excellent a-Si：H passivation layer could be obtained in a very wide deposition pressure and power region. Such wide process window would be very beneficial for improving the uniformity and the yield for the solar cell fabrication. The a-Si：H layer microstructure was further investigated by Raman and Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectro-scopy characterization. The correlation between the microstructure and the passivation performance was revealed. According to the above findings, the a-Si：H passivation performance was optimized more elaborately. Finally, a large-area SHJ solar cell with an efficiency of 22.25% was fabricated on the commercial 156 mm pseudo-square n-type Cz c-Si substrate with the opencircuit voltage （Voc） of up to 0.732 V.

CuI-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells with Carbon Nanotube Films as Flexible Top-Contact Electrodes

We report the fabrication of CuI-Si heterojunction solar cells with carbon nanotubes （CNTs） as a transparent electrode. A flexible CNT network was transferred onto tile top of a polycrystalline CuI layer, making a conformal coating with good contact with the underlying CuI. The solar cells showed power conversion efficiencies in the range of 6% to 10.5%, while the efficiency degradation was less than 10% after the device was stored in air for 8 days. Compared with conventional rigid electrodes such as indium tin oxide （ITO） glass, the flexibility of the CNT films ensures better contact with the active layers and removes the need for press-contact electrodes. Degraded cells can recover their original performance by acid doping of the CNT electrode. Our results suggest that CNT films are suitable electrical contacts for rough materials and structures with an uneven surface.

Simulation approach for optimization of ZnO/c-WSe2 heterojunction solar cells

Taking into account defect density in WSe2,interface recombination between ZnO and WSe2,we presented a simulation study of ZnO/crystalline WSe2 heterojunction（HJ） solar cell using wxAMPS simulation software.The optimal conversion efficiency 39.07%for n-ZnO/p-c-WSe2 HJ solar cell can be realized without considering the impact of defects.High defect density（〉 1.0×10^11cm^-2） in c-WSe2 and large trap cross-section（〉 1.0×10^-10cm^2） have serious impact on solar cell efficiency.A thin p-WSe2 layer is intentionally inserted between ZnO layer and c-WSe2 to investigate the effect of the interface recombination.The interface properties are very crucial to the performance of ZnO/c-WSe2 HJ solar cell.The affinity of ZnO value range between 3.7-4.5 eV gives the best conversion efficiency.

Simulation study of the losses and influences of geminate and bimolecular recombination on the performances of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

We use the method of device simulation to study the losses and influences of geminate and bimolecular recombinations on the performances and properties of the bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. We find that a fraction of electrons（holes）in the device are collected by anode（cathode）. The direction of the corresponding current is opposite to the direction of photocurrent. And the current density increases with the bias increasing but decreases as bimolecular recombination（BR）or geminate recombination（GR） intensity increases. The maximum power, short circuit current, and fill factor display a stronger dependence on GR than on BR. While the influences of GR and BR on open circuit voltage are about the same.Our studies shed a new light on the loss mechanism and may provide a new way of improving the efficiency of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.

Effect of Crystallinity of Fullerene Derivatives on Doping Density in the Organic Bulk Heterojunction Layer in Polymer Solar Cells

Polymer solar cells （PSCs） based on poly（3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester （PCBM） are fabricated by using 1,8-diiodooctane （DIO） as a solvent additive to control the doping density of the PSCs. It is shown that the processing of DIO does not change the doping density of the P3HT phase, while it causes a dramatic reduction of the doping density of the PCBM phase, which decreases the doping density of the whole blend layer from 3.7 × 10^16 cm-3 to 1.2 ×10^16 cm-3. The reduction of the doping density in the PCBM phase originates from the increasing crystallinity of PCBM with DIO addition, and it leads to a decreasing doping density in the blend film and improves the short circuit current of the PSCs.

Application of TiO_2 with different structures in solar cells

The application of TiO2-based devices is mainly dependent on their crystalline structure, morphology, size, and exposed facets. Two kinds of TiO2 with different structures, namely TiO2 pompons and TiO2 nanotubes, have been prepared by the hydrothermal method. TiO2 with different structures is characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, and Brunauer Emmett-Teller （BET） surface area analysis. Solar cells based on poly（3-hexylthiophene） （P3HT） and TiO2 with different structures are fabricated. In the device ITO/TiO2/P3HT/Au, the P3HT is designed to act as the electron donor, and TiO2 pompons and TiO2 nanotubes act as the electron acceptor. The effects of the TiO2 structure on the performance of hybrid heterojunction solar cells are investigated. The device with TiO2 pompons has an open circuit voltage （Voc） of 0.51 V, a short circuit current （Jsc） of 0.21 mA/cm2, and a fill factor （FF） of 28.3%. Another device with TiO2 nanotubes has a Voc of 0.5 V, Jsc of 0.27 mA/cm2, and FF of 28.4%. The results indicate that the TiO2 nanotubes with a unidimensional structure have better carrier transport and light absorption properties than TiO2 pompons. Consequently, the solar cell based on TiO2 nanotubes has a better performance.

Influence of small-molecule material on performance of polymer solar cells based on MEH-PPV:PCBM blend

In this work, the influence of a small-molecule material, tris（8-hydroxyquinoline） aluminum （Alq3）, on bulk heterojunction （BHJ） polymer solar cells （PSCs） is investigated in devices based on the blend of poly（2-methoxy-5-（2- ethylhexyloxy）-1,4-phenylenevinylene） （MEH-PPV） and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester （PCBM）. By doping Alq3 into MEH-PPV：PCBM solution, the number of MEH-PPV excitons can be effectively increased due to the energy transfer from Alq3 to MEH-PPV, which probably induces the increase of photocurrent generated by excitons dissociation. However, the low carrier mobility of Alq3 is detrimental to the efficient charge transport, thereby blocking the charge collection by the respective electrodes. The balance between photon absorption and charge transport in the active layer plays a key role in the performance of PSCs. For the case of 5 wt.% Alq3 doping, the device performance is deteriorated rather than improved as compared with that of the undoped device. On the other hand, we adopt Alq3 as a buffer layer instead of commonly used LiF. All the photovoltaic parameters are improved, yielding an 80% increase in power conversion efficiency （PCE） at the optimum thickness （1 nm） as compared with that of the device without any buffer layer. Even for the 5 wt.% Alq3 doped device, the PCE has a slight enhancement compared with that of the standard device after modification with 1 nm （or 2 nm） thermally evaporated Alq3. The performance deterioration of Alq3-doped devices can be explained by the low solubility of Alq3, which probably deteriorates the bicontinuous D-A network morphology; while the performance improvement of the devices with Alq3 as a buffer layer is attributed to the increased light harvesting, as well as blocking the hole leakage from MEH-PPV to the aluminum （Al） electrode due to the lower highest occupied molecular orbital （HOMO） level of Alq3 compared with that of MEH-PPV.