Fluorine-induced improvement of structural and optical properties of CdTe thin films for solar cell efficiency enhancement

ECHENDU, Obi Kingsley, DEJENE, Francis Birhanu and DHARMADASA, I (2017). Fluorine-induced improvement of structural and optical properties of CdTe thin films for solar cell efficiency enhancement. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 28 (19), 14615-14630.

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Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-7326-3

Abstract

CdTe thin films of different thicknesses were electrodeposited and annealed in air after different chemical treatments to study the effects of thickness and the different chemical treatments on these films for photovoltaic applications. The thicknesses of the samples range from 1.1 μm to 2.1 μm and the annealing process was carried out after prior CdCl2 treatment and CdCl2+CdF2 treatment as well as without any chemical treatment. Detailed optical and structural characterisation of the as-deposited and annealed CdTe thin films using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and x-ray diffraction reveal that incorporating fluorine in the well-known CdCl2 treatment of CdTe produces remarkable improvement in the optical and structural properties of the materials. This CdCl2+CdF2 treatment produced solar cell with efficiency of 8.3% compared to CdCl2 treatment, with efficiency of 3.3%. The results reveal an alternative method of post-deposition chemical treatment of CdTe which can lead to the production of CdTe-based solar cells with enhanced photovoltaic conversion efficiencies compared to the use of only CdCl2. Keywords: CdTe; CdCl2;

Item Type: Article
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/10.1007/s10854-017-7326-3
Page Range: 14615-14630
Depositing User: Jill Hazard
Date Deposited: 09 Jun 2017 11:18
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 01:04
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15859

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