Investigating the electronic properties of multi-junction ZnS/CdS/CdTe graded bandgap solar cells

OLUSOLA, O.I., MADUGU, M.L. and DHARMADASA, I (2017). Investigating the electronic properties of multi-junction ZnS/CdS/CdTe graded bandgap solar cells. Materials chemistry and physics, 191, 145-150.

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Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2017.01.027

Abstract

The fabrication of multi-junction graded bandgap solar cells have been successfully implemented by electroplating three binary compound semiconductors from II-VI family. The three semiconductor materials grown by electroplating techniques are ZnS, CdS and CdTe thin films. The electrical conductivity type and energy bandgap of each of the three semiconductors were determined using photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell measurement and UV-Vis spectrophotometry techniques respectively. The PEC cell results show that all the three semiconductor materials have n-type electrical conductivity. These two material characterisation techniques were considered in this paper in order to establish the relevant energy band diagram for device results, analysis and interpretation. Solar cells with the device structure glass/FTO/n-ZnS/n-CdS/n-CdTe/Au were then fabricated and characterised using current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) techniques. From the I-V characteristics measurement, the fabricated device structures yielded an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 670 mV, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 41.5 mAcm-2 and fill-factor (FF) of 0.46 resulting in ∼12.8% efficiency when measured at room temperature under AM1.5 illumination conditions. The device structure showed an excellent rectification factor (RF) of 104.3 and ideality factor (n) of 1.88. The results obtained from the C-V measurement also showed that the device structures have a moderate doping level of 5.2×1015 cm-3.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Electrodeposition, buffer layer, graded bandgap device structures, n-n-n+Schottky barrier.
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Materials and Engineering Research Institute > Advanced Coatings and Composites Research Centre > Electronic Materials and Sensors Research Group
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2017.01.027
Page Range: 145-150
Depositing User: Jill Hazard
Date Deposited: 11 Jan 2017 11:25
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 04:20
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14601

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