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An Effective Approach on Attaining Enhanced Silicon Solar Cell Performance Through Sputter Deposited Perovskite Thin Films

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Abstract

Antireflection coatings (ARCs) have become one of the key techniques for mass production of Si solar cells. They are generally performed by vacuum processes such as thermal evaporation, sol–gel and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. In this work, RF sputtering method was adopted to prepare the ARCs for the non-textured polycrystalline Si solar cells. The RF sputter coated strontium titanate(SrTiO3), barium titatnate(BaTiO3)and SrTiO3-BaTiO3(mechanical blends). Si solar cells were inspected through various characterisation techniques. Through RF sputter deposition technique, thin films with good uniformity can be achieved easily. The influence of ARC on solar cell samples were studied through evaluation of structural, optical and electrical properties of coated and uncoated samples. The structural characterization was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The electrical resistivity was measured in dark at room temperature using four-point probe technique. UV–visible spectroscopy was utilised for determining optical characterization. It was found that SrTiO3-BaTiO3blend coated cell (M3)has considerable effect on the performance of solar cell as compare to uncoated and other coated solar cells. The maximum power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 19.58% and 21.15% were achieved for M3 solar cell in presence of solar and neodymium irradiation under open and controlled atmospheric conditions. Neodymium light radiation was similar to the natural sun light and can be used for growing plants and veterinaries under enclosed surface. Based on the results, SrTiO3-BaTiO3 blends found to be an appropriate ARC material for minimising scattering of incident photons.

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Acknowledgements

The author (Mr.S. Santhosh) thank the AICTE, New Delhi for selecting as full-time research scholar under AICTE Doctoral Fellowship (ADF) scheme in 2019 (Scholar ID-1- 6382526181). Also thank Kongu Engineering College management for providing financial assistance.

Funding

This research work is not financially supported by research funding organisations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Perundurai, TamilNadu, 638060, India

    V. K. Gobinath

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Perundurai, TamilNadu, 638060, India

    R. Rajasekar, S. Santhosh & C. Moganapriya

  3. Department of Mining Enginering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, WestBengal, 721302, India

    C. Moganapriya

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Perundurai, TamilNadu, 638060, India

    A. Manju Sri

  5. Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton DucThang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    S. K. Jaganathan

  6. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton DucThang University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

    S. K. Jaganathan

  7. Department of Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Engineering, University of Hull, Hull, HU67RX, UK

    S. K. Jaganathan

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  1. V. K. Gobinath
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  2. R. Rajasekar
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  4. C. Moganapriya
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Contributions

All authors have performed intial discussion regarding this research work. V. K. Gobinath done set of material purchase, experiment work and interpreted the acquired data. S. Santhosh have assisted with experiments at ceratin instances. C. Moganapriya and A. Manju Sri were characterized the coatedsamples through XRD, FESEM with EDAX, AFM, IPCE spectra and temperature analysis. J. Saravana Kumar have ascertained the I-V characteristics (open and closed enviroment) of uncoated and coated samples. V. K. Gobinath was finally drafted a research manuscript. The complete research was performed under the direction of R. Rajasekar and have interpreted the obtained experimental results.

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Correspondence to R. Rajasekar.

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Gobinath, V.K., Rajasekar, R., Santhosh, S. et al. An Effective Approach on Attaining Enhanced Silicon Solar Cell Performance Through Sputter Deposited Perovskite Thin Films. Silicon 14, 9773–9788 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01714-7

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