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Study of the Enhancement of the Efficiency of the Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cell by Optimizing Effective Parameters Using PC1D Simulation

Abstract

In this paper, simulation of a monocrystalline silicon solar cell was done using PC1D software. The impact of different solar cell parameters, with their effects on power and efficiency, has been investigated. For a p-type monocrystalline silicon wafer, with an area of \(10\times 10\) cm2 and a thickness of 300 μm, initial simulation shows a 12.10% efficient solar cell. To optimize the simulation experimentally obtained data has been used in the texturization process. It is seen that the textured surface reduces reflection and increases the efficiency of the solar cell at least 1–2%. From the simulation it is seen that the optimum value of p-type doping concentration is \(1\times 10^{17}\) cm− 3 and n-type doping concentration is \(1\times 10^{18}\) cm− 3. 200.3 μm diffusion length is considered as optimum. Both sides textured wafer with pyramid height of 2–3 \(\mu \mathrm {m}\) and equal angles of 54.74 degrees produces the best result in simulation. An anti-reflection coating with 2.019 refractive index and a thickness of 74 nm is considered as optimum. By optimizing the effective parameters, a 20.35% efficient solar cell has been achieved by simulation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their thanks to the University of New South Wales, Australia for providing the PC1D software. This work has been supported by the scholarship program of the ICT Division, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and IT, Government of Bangladesh. The authors also thank Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, for giving access to the solar cell fabrication laboratory for texturization process and Glass and Ceramic Engineering Department, Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology for allowing the use of their laboratory for measurement. Finally, the authors also express their gratitude to the Faculty of Engineering and Technology and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Dhaka for contributing to this kind of research.

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Correspondence to Galib Hashmi.

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Hashmi, G., Akand, A.R., Hoq, M. et al. Study of the Enhancement of the Efficiency of the Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cell by Optimizing Effective Parameters Using PC1D Simulation. Silicon 10, 1653–1660 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-017-9649-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-017-9649-3

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