Numerical Analysis of a CZTS Solar Cell with MoS2 as a Buffer Layer and Graphene as a Transparent Conducting Oxide Layer for Enhanced Cell Performance

Sampad Ghosh; Samira Yasmin; Jannatul Ferdous; Bidyut Baran Saha

doi:10.3390/mi13081249

Numerical Analysis of a CZTS Solar Cell with MoS₂ as a Buffer Layer and Graphene as a Transparent Conducting Oxide Layer for Enhanced Cell Performance

Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Aug 3;13(8):1249. doi: 10.3390/mi13081249.

Authors

Sampad Ghosh¹, Samira Yasmin¹, Jannatul Ferdous¹, Bidyut Baran Saha^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), Chattogram 4349, Bangladesh.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.
³ International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER), Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan.

Abstract

Copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) can be considered an important absorber layer material for utilization in thin film solar cell devices because of its non-toxic, earth abundance, and cost-effective properties. In this study, the effect of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) as a buffer layer on the different parameters of CZTS-based solar cell devices was explored to design a highly efficient solar cell. While graphene is considered a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer for the superior quantum efficiency of CZTS thin film solar cells, MoS₂ acts as a hole transport layer to offer electron-hole pair separation and an electron blocking layer to prevent recombination at the graphene/CZTS interface. This study proposed and analyzed a competent and economic CZTS solar cell structure (graphene/MoS₂/CZTS/Ni) with MoS₂ and graphene as the buffer and TCO layers, respectively, using the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS)-1D. The proposed structure exhibited the following enhanced solar cell performance parameters: open-circuit voltage-0.8521 V, short-circuit current-25.3 mA cm^-2, fill factor-84.76%, and efficiency-18.27%.

Keywords: CZTS solar cell; SCAPS simulation; graphene; molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.