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Impact of Different Antireflection Layers on Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Solar Cells: a PC1D Simulation Study

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Abstract

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is currently known to be one of the reliable cost-effective materials for manufacturing solar cells. In this work, different materials such as magnesium fluoride (MgF2), aluminum trioxide (Al2O3), tin oxide (SnO2), and magnesium oxide (MgO) were applied as a single antireflection coating (ARC) layer and characterized their optoelectrical properties of the resulting CdTe solar cells. A personal computer one-dimensional (PC1D) simulation study was carried out to instigate the overall performance when varying the thickness of the absorber and window layers. Simulation results confirmed that Al2O3 single ARC layer with thickness of 83 nm achieved the best efficiency of 17.81% as compared with the other ARC materials. The Al2O3 single ARC layer resulted in a short-circuit current of 2.89 A and open-circuit voltage of 0.740 V.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by research funds of Jeonbuk National University in 2020. This work was funded by the Researchers Supporting Project No. RSP-2020/261, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Department, Gabriel Elektro AS, Lakselv, 9700, Norway

    Devendra KC

  2. School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering and Solar Energy Research Center, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea

    Deb Kumar Shah & M. Shaheer Akhtar

  3. Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Amer M. Alanazi

  4. Graduate School of Integrated Energy-AI, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea

    M. Shaheer Akhtar

  5. New and Renewable Energy Materials Development Center (NewREC), Jeonbuk National University, Jeonbuk, 56332, Republic of Korea

    M. Shaheer Akhtar

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  1. Devendra KC
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Correspondence to Deb Kumar Shah or M. Shaheer Akhtar.

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KC, D., Shah, D.K., Alanazi, A.M. et al. Impact of Different Antireflection Layers on Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Solar Cells: a PC1D Simulation Study. J. Electron. Mater. 50, 2199–2205 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08696-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08696-5

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