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... under low illumination as perfectly simulates the electrical characteristics of the thin film heterojunction solar cells [14].The simulator has already been tested for thin film CdTe and CIGS solar cells by many researchers [15] and in recent, more than 200 groups around the world have been using AMPS 1D to design and simulate solar cells [16]. Fig. 2 shows the cell structure of the proposed GeTe solar cell and Table 1 shows the momentous parameters of the materials used in this modeling.The values of Table 1 were adopted from some standard references [17, 18, and 19] and from theoretical and practically variable values [8,13].In this study, Al-doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:Al) as the front ...
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... As a result, the findings indicate that the ideal range for absorber layer thickness is in the range of 2 µm, and that fabricating cells with absorber thicknesses greater than this range is not practical because it would require more material consumption without having a significant impact on the characteristics or efficiency of the cells. Note that we get a slight decrease of fill factor when increasing thickness from 1 µm to 2 µm which was by 4% from 66% to 62% [35,36]. In addition, having thickness beyond 2 µm will lead to the introduction of resistive component that decrease fill factor [36]. ...
... However, GeTe semiconductor could be used in TPV cell as it has excellent optical and thermoelectrical properties, for an instance its absorption coefficient is above 2.7×10 4 cm −1 and resistivity is approximately 2×10 -4 Ω.cm [24]. GeTe also exhibits a dielectric constant of 40 [6]. ...
... Herein, n-type GeTe functions as the emitter layer and p-type GeTe works as the absorber layer. GeTe semiconductor possesses an electron affinity of 4.8 eV [24] together with the ionization energy of 5.4 eV. The energy band diagram of the TPV cell with np structure has been depicted by the figure 5(b). ...
Germanium telluride (GeTe) having a direct bandgap of 0.6 eV has mainly been used in phase change memory and thermoelectric power generation. In this article, we study the electronic structure of the GeTe by first-principles calculations. The theoretical direct bandgap of GeTe was found to be 0.69 eV which is very close to the experimental value. Then, we demonstrated a single-junction GeTe thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell based on device transport model with np structure at the black body and cell temperature of 1775 and 300 K, respectively. The device was optimized for the higher performance of the TPV cell. The GeTe TPV cell exhibited an efficiency of 7.9% with JSC=16.16 A/cm2, VOC=0.360 V and FF=75.51%, respectively. These results indicate that GeTe could be a promising material for the fabrication of efficient TPV cell.
... The carrier concentration can reach up to 1.5 × 10 21 cm − 3 . The optoelectronic properties and because of high thermal stability, GeTe could be effective for the bottom absorber layer in tandem solar cell [10,11]. Therefore, GeTe was added as a bottom subcell and CH 3 NH 3 SnI 3 as a top subcell in our tandem solar device. ...
... Table S1: Physical parameters of the incident, transmitted spectrum definitions, and their units; Table S2: Materials parameters of the top sub-cell used in SCAPS-1D simulator; Table S3: Materials parameters of the top bottom-cell used in SCAPS-1D simulator. References [3,25,30,31,45,46,[57][58][59][60][61][62] ...
The primary purpose of recent research has been to achieve a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) with stable characteristics, either through experimental studies or through modeling and simulation. In this study, a theoretical analysis of an efficient perovskite solar cell (PSC) with cuprous oxide (Cu2O) as the hole transport material (HTM) and zinc oxysulfide (ZnOS) as the electron transport material (ETM) was proposed to replace the traditional HTMs or ETMs. In addition, the impact of doping the perovskite layer was investigated. The results show that the heterostructure of n-p PSC without an electron transport layer (ETL) could replace the traditional n-i-p structure with better performance metrics and more stability due to reducing the number of layers and interfaces. The impact of HTM doping and thickness was investigated. In addition, the influence of the energy gap of the absorber layer was studied. Furthermore, the proposed PSC without ETL was used as a top sub-cell with germanium-telluride (GeTe) as a bottom sub-cell to produce an efficient tandem cell and boost the PCE. An ETL-free PSC/GeTe tandem cell is proposed for the first time to provide an efficient and stable tandem solar cell with a PCE of 45.99%. Finally, a comparison between the performance metrics of the proposed tandem solar cell and those of other recent studies is provided. All the simulations performed in this study are accomplished by using SCAPS-1D.
... We note that the distribution of excited electrons is rather important because GeTe is generally unintentionally p-doped (~10 21 cm −3 [35]), and the number of excited holes is much smaller than that of the intrinsic holes. Because the electron affinity of GeTe is 4.8 eV [36] and the work function of polycrystalline Ag is 4.26 eV [37], Fermi level aligning at equilibrium makes a downward band bending toward the Ag-GeTe interface. Therefore, negative charges are expected to move to the nearest electrode and positive charges are expected to move in the opposite direction. ...
We report on the irreversible and reversible resistance changes for γ-ray irradiation in amorphous GeTe thin films with Ag electrodes. The γ-ray irradiation at a dose of 1 kGy irreversibly decreased the DC resistance by two orders of magnitude. The irreversible resistance change was caused by the formation of a conductive region that consisted of Ag-Te compounds. In-situ real-time DC resistance and AC impedance measurements revealed reversible variations in several electrode structures with DC resistances ranging widely from about 10 kΩ to about 5 MΩ. The DC resistance decreased by 2–5% with a time constant of about 3–7 min following the γ-ray irradiation with a dose rate of 0.5–2 kGy/h, and recovered on interruption. The AC impedance measurement was analyzed with a simple equivalent circuit consisting of a parallel RC circuit of the Ag-diffused GeTe matrix, connected serially to the interface resistance. The interface resistance and the capacitance of the matrix exhibited a fast reversible variation, which is explained by trapping and detrapping of carriers in the charged defects formed by the Ag re-diffusion. The resistance of the matrix showed a slow reversible variation with a time constant of 7 min, similar to the DC resistance. The slow reversible variation is attributed to the growth and dissolution of the conductive region caused by the Ag re-diffusion.
Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) is a thin-film solar cells that have emerged as a promising technology for cost-effective and efficient photovoltaic cells. To increase the efficiency of CIGS solar cells, integration of back contact with different materials was investigated utilizing Simulator SCAPS-1D and achieved an efficiency of 26.03%. The various factors of solar cell namely efficiency, fill factor, open circuit voltage, short circuit current has been calibrated and compared with the existing experimental results. The impact of defect density, thickness, shunt and series resistance have considered for optimization of solar power cell device with different back contact materials. The impact of temperature on performance of device will be inspected. Output of this work predicts to give an efficient solar cell based on CIGS material using a suitable back contact material.
Highly efficient, stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are investigated using barium (Ba)-based homologous series compound materials such as Ba3MBr3 (M = As, P, Sb, and N) as absorbers due to their exceptional light-absorbing and stability qualities. Despite achieving a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of approximately 25% with lead (Pb)-based perovskites, significant challenges persist due to their absorbing efficacy and environmental instability. Our study employs first-principles calculations (Density Functional Theory; DFT) and SCAPS-1D simulation to unveil the electronic, mechanical, optical, and solar cell characteristics of Ba 3 MBr 3 perovskite compounds. These compounds exhibit unique geometric structures, suitable band structures, charge density distributions, and partial density of states (PDOS), with direct band gaps ranging from 0.532 to 0.976 eV. Investigation into the photoconversion efficiency (PCE) in solar cell structures utilizing Ba 3 MBr 3 absorbers and SnS 2 electron transport layers (ETL) reveals a peak PCE of ≈29.8% in Ba 3 PBr 3-absorber heterostructure, with V OC of 0.720 V, J SC of 49.50 mA cm −2, FF of 83.30%, and quantum efficiency (QE) ≥ 90% in the range of 300−1200 nm of AM1.5G spectra. The combined (DFT and SCAPS-1D) studies provide detailed insights into Ba-based perovskites and the necessary resources for fabricating high-efficiency, stable inorganic PSCs for advanced photovoltaic technology.
Group IV metal chalcogenides (group IV MCs) have garnered significant attention from scientific fraternity owing
to their distinct structural features and interesting electronic properties that could be exploited for diverse applications
including energy conversion and storage, optoelectronic devices and sensors. However, to make group
IV MCs commercially viable, it is imperative to evolve efficient, cost effective and scalable methods for their
synthesis. Single source molecular precursor (SSP) mediated synthesis of group IV MCs is one such route which
enjoys tremendous advantages over conventional solid state or dual precursor routes. Most importantly, SSP
serve as a viable tool to afford phase pure group IV MCs with high reproducibility and excellent control over size
and morphology in presence of suitable capping agents. This timely review provides a comprehensive overview
of SSPs employed for accessing group IV MCs nanomaterials as well as thin films. Effects of various ligands on
SSP performance have been rationalized. Additionally, precursors which can afford selective synthesis of
different compositions or phase of group IV MCs by the choice of solvent, temperature and mode of decomposition
have been critically assessed. Strength, limitations and opportunities associated with SSP approach are
critically evaluated to provide directions for the development of new SSPs. Furthermore, the role of capping
agents and fundamentals of viable synthetic strategies in general, for materials synthesis and deposition of thin
film have been summarised in this account. Finally, the conclusion and future prospects of SSPs have also been
included in this review. It is expected that this review will provide library of precursors and optimized conditions
to synthesize group IV MCs and further catch the attention of researchers to explore the SSP mediated route in
making size- and shape-tunable nanostructures with improved functionalities.
The lead toxicity and instability of conventional all-inorganic lead halide perovskites hinder the production of efficient and stable non-toxic perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which prompts the search for viable non-leaded substitutes for photovoltaic (PV) applications. The present study investigates and analyzes the optoelectronic characteristics of proposed lead-free orthorhombic perovskites KSn1-xGexI3 (x = 0, 0.5, 1) of different concentration via first-principle density functional theory (DFT), to get an insight into their PV applicability. DFT computation with GGA-PBE exchange-correlation approximation is performed to extract the parameters such as band gap, mobility, dielectric constant, CBM and VBM of KSnI3, KSn0.5Ge0.5I3 and KGeI3 to demonstrate their capability as a functional layer in PSCs. These characteristics have been utilized to simulate PSCs in order to comprehend the PV performance. The simulated devices: FTO/SnO2/KSnI3/Spiro-OMeTAD/Au, FTO/SnO2/KSn0.5Ge0.5I3/Spiro-OMeTAD/Au and FTO/SnO2/KGeI3/Spiro-OMeTAD/Au exhibited the efficiency of 8.23%, 8.89% and 4.12%, respectively. Thereafter, the most effective cell with an efficiency of 8.89% with 50% Ge doped KSn0.5Ge0.5I3 active layer is selected for additional optimization of thickness, defect density and doping concentration to achieve the maximum efficiency. The distinctive green proposed KSn0.5Ge0.5I3-PSC, with an optimized efficiency of 20.29% stood out among the top PSC technologies. Future research on this subject will focus on synthesizing the proposed novel KSn0.5Ge0.5I3-PSC and evaluating the performance of the KGeI3-PSC.
Multi-junction solar cells exhibit superior power conversion efficiency (PCE) in comparison with their single-junction counterparts. The tunable bandgap, low-cost, elevated short circuit current density (J sc), and open-circuit voltage (V oc) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have led to their widespread adoption as top sub-cells in tandem devices. Stability remains a significant challenge for these cells. To address this issue, carbon perovskite solar cells (CPSCs) have emerged as a potential solution, offering enhanced stability without hole transport layers (HTLs). This study focuses on the simulation of HTL-free CPSCs using an improved electron transport material (ETM) instead of TiO 2. The implementation of this enhancement leads to a notable increase in the PCE of the CPSCs, rising from 7.97 % to 14.38 %. Through optimizing the defect concentration and doping density of the perovskite absorber layer, a significant improvement in the PCE is achieved, reaching 16.87 %. A novel configuration incorporating a gradient doping profile in the perovskite layer is introduced, leading to a remarkable enhancement in the PCE, which reaches 22.22 %. Two absorber materials are suggested, CIGS and GeTe, as bottom sub-cells. Three tandem cell configurations, PSC/CIGS, CPSC/CIGS, and CPSC/GeTe, are rigorously explored based on the optimized sub-cells. The PCEs of the proposed configurations are found to be 30.52 %, 22.7 %, and 36.59 %, respectively. Computational analysis reveals that the PSC/CIGS tandem cell exhibits lower stability against temperature variations compared to CPSC/CIGS and CPSC/GeTe. Additionally, the proposed CPSC/GeTe tandem is highly praised as a favorable contender, offering both high efficiency and stability among the various configurations considered in this study.
