Search results for "Solar Cell"
showing 10 items of 410 documents
Injection and ultrafast regeneration in dye-sensitized solar cells
2014
Injection of an electron from the excited dye molecule to the semiconductor is the initial charge separation step in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC's). Though the dynamics of the forward injection process has been widely studied, the results reported so far are controversial, especially for complete DSC's. In this work, the electron injection in titanium dioxide (TiO2) films sensitized with ruthenium bipyridyl dyes N3 and N719 was studied both in neat solvent and in a typical iodide/triiodide (I-/I3 -) DSC electrolyte. Transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy was used to monitor both the formation of the oxidized dye and the arrival of injected electrons to the conduction band of TiO2. Emiss…
Insights into Intrinsic Defects and the Incorporation of Na and K in the Cu2ZnSnSe4 Thin-Film Solar Cell Material from Hybrid-Functional Calculations
2016
We have performed density functional theory calculations using the HSE06 hybrid functional to investigate the energetics, atomic, and electronic structure of intrinsic defects as well as Na and K impurities in the kesterite structure of the Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) solar cell material. We found that both Na and K atoms prefer to be incorporated into this material as substitutional defects in the Cu sublattice. At this site highly stable (Na–Na), (K–K), and (Na–K) dumbbells can form. While Na interstitial defects are stable in CZTSe, the formation of K interstitial defects is unlikely. In general, the calculated formation energies for Na-related defects are always lower compared to their K-related…
How Gettering Affects the Temperature Sensitivity of the Implied Open Circuit Voltage of Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers
2019
The temperature sensitivity of the open circuit voltage of a solar cell is mainly driven by changes in the intrinsic carrier concentration, but also by the temperature dependence of the limiting recombination mechanisms in the cell. This paper investigates the influence of recombination through metallic impurities on the temperature sensitivity of multicrystalline silicon wafers. Spatially resolved temperature dependent analysis is performed to evaluate the temperature sensitivity of wafers from different brick positions before and after being subjected to phosphorus diffusion gettering. Local spatial analysis is performed on intra-grain areas, dislocation clusters and grain boundaries. Lar…
Study of the P3HT/PCBM interface using photoemission yield spectroscopy
2016
Photogeneration efficiency and charge carrier extraction from active layer are the parameters that determine the efficiency of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Devices made of organic materials often consist of thin (up to 100nm) layers. At this thickness different interface effects become more pronounced. The electron affinity and ionization energy shift can affect the charge carrier transport across metal-organic interface which can affect the performance of the entire device. In the case of multilayer OPVs, energy level compatibility at the organic-organic interface is as important. Photoemission yield spectroscopy was used for organic-organic interface study by ionization energy measuremen…
Fabrication and characterization of low cost Cu 2 O/ZnO:Al solar cells for sustainable photovoltaics with earth abundant materials
2016
Abstract The low cost electrodeposition method was used to grow Cu2O thin films and experimentally determine the optimal absorber layer thickness. Raman scattering studies indicate the presence of solely crystalline Cu2O and SEM images show that the thin films consist of grains with a pyramidal shape. The influence of the thickness of the light absorbing Cu2O layer on the basic characteristic of the heterojunction and their properties have been investigated using reflectivity, current–voltage (J–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V) and the external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements. The depletion layer, the charge collection length of the minority carrier, and reflectivity are the main factors…
Reducing the Schottky barrier height at the MoSe2/Mo(110) interface in thin-film solar cells: Insights from first-principles calculations
2016
Abstract We report on first-principles calculations of the properties of the MoSe2/Mo(110) interface. Due to mismatch between the lattice parameters of the two structures, different patterns can form at the interface. We have studied the formation energy and the band alignment of six patterns for the MoSe2 (0001)/Mo(110) interface and one pattern for the MoSe2 (11 2 0)/Mo(110) interface. The MoSe2 (11 2 0)/Mo(110) interface is more stable than the MoSe 2 (0001)/Mo(110) interface and in contrast to MoSe2 (0001)/Mo(110), no Schottky barrier forms at MoSe2 (11 2 0)/Mo(110). Doping with Na modifies the band alignment at the interfaces. The Schottky barrier height decreases, provided that a Na a…
Temperature Coefficients of Solar Cell Parameters at Maximum Power Point
2020
Analytical expressions for the temperature coefficients of the maximum power point voltage and current are presented. The temperature coefficients are calculated assuming the bandgap to be a linear function of the temperature and accounting for energy losses of non-radiative nature. The latter are introduced in the model through the External Radiative Efficiency. The so-called $\gamma$ parameter, which has been shown to account for the thermal sensitivity of all mechanisms determining the open-circuit voltage, appears to also play a role in the temperature coefficient of the maximum power point voltage and current. Numerical results and a comparison with experimental measurements are also p…
Influence of “Productive” Impurities (Cd, Na, O) on the Properties of the Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 Absorber of Model Solar Cells
2021
The research has been supported by grant of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan AP09562784. The authors (D. Sergeyev) acknowledges the provision of SCAPS-1D software by Prof. Marc Burgelman. The research of A.I. Popov has been supported by the Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP), University of Latvia (UL). ISSP UL as the Centre of Excellence is supported through the Framework Program for Euro-pean Universities Union Horizon 2020, H2020-WIDESPREAD-01–2016–2017-TeamingPhase2 under Grant Agreement No. 739508, CAMART2 project.
Analytic $JV$ -Characteristics of Ideal Intermediate Band Solar Cells and Solar Cells With Up and Downconverters
2017
The ideal diode equation is regularly used to describe the $\textit {JV}$ -characteristic of single junction solar cells. The connection between the diode equation and fundamental physics is the application of the Boltzmann approximation to describe the fluxes of photons emitted by the cell. In this paper, this approximation is used to derive analytic $\textit {JV}$ -characteristics for three photovoltaic high-efficiency concepts, intermediate band solar cells, and solar cells optically coupled to up and downconverters. These three concepts share the common feature that they allow excitation of electrons between at least three energy levels, which assures a better utilization of the solar s…
A summary of expressions for central performance parameters of high efficiency solar cell concepts
2019
This work reviews expressions for central performance parameters of various types of PV-concepts when operating at the radiative limit. Some new expressions not published elsewhere are also included. The performance parameters include the short circuit current density, the open circuit voltage, the maximum power density and the optimal voltage. The cell concepts include single junction cells, cells optically coupled to up- and down-converters, intermediate band solar cells and a couple of implementations of multijunction devices. The Lambert W function is used to express the maximum power density.