A qualitative Design and optimization of CIGS-based Solar Cells with Sn2S3 Back Surface Field: A plan for achieving 21.83 % efficiency

Md Ferdous Rahman; Md Kamrul Hasan; Mithun Chowdhury; Md Rasidul Islam; Md Hafijur Rahman; Md Atikur Rahman; Sheikh Rashel Al Ahmed; Abu Bakar Md Ismail; Mongi Amami; M Khalid Hossain; Gamil A A M Al-Hazmi

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22866

A qualitative Design and optimization of CIGS-based Solar Cells with Sn₂S₃ Back Surface Field: A plan for achieving 21.83 % efficiency

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 25;9(12):e22866. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22866. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Energy Materials and Solar Cell Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, 5400, Bangladesh.
² Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, 6205, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangamata Sheikh Fojilatunnesa Mujib Science & Technology University, Jamalpur, 2012, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Physics, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Pabna, 6600, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering, Pabna University of Science and Technology, Pabna, 6600, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Institute of Electronics, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka, 1349, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Conventional Copper Indium Gallium Di Selenide (CIGS)-based solar cells are more efficient than second-generation technology based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) or cadmium telluride (CdTe). So, herein the photovoltaic (PV) performance of CIGS-based solar cells has been investigated numerically using SCAPS-1D solar simulator with different buffer layer and less expensive tin sulfide (Sn₂S₃) back-surface field (BSF). At first, three buffer layer such as cadmium sulfide (CdS), zinc selenide (ZnSe) and indium-doped zinc sulfide ZnS:In have been simulated with CIGS absorber without BSF due to optimized and non-toxic buffer. Then the optimized structure of Al/FTO/ZnS:In/CIGS/Ni is modified to become Al/FTO/ZnS:In/CIGS/Sn₂S₃/Ni by adding a Sn₂S₃ BSF to enhanced efficiency. The detailed analysis have been investigated is the influence of physical properties of each absorber and buffer on photovoltaic parameters including layer thickness, carrier doping concentration, bulk defect density, interface defect density. This study emphasizes investigating the reasons for the actual devices' poor performance and illustrates how each device's might vary open-circuit voltage (V_OC), short-circuit current density (J_SC), fill factor (FF), power conversion efficiency (PCE), and quantum efficiency (QE). The optimized structure offers outstanding power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.83 % with only 0.80 μm thick CIGS absorber. The proposed CIGS-based solar cell performs better than the previously reported conventional designs while also reducing CIGS thickness and cost.

Keywords: Back Surface Field (BSF); CIGS-Based solar cell; Non-toxic buffer layer; SCAPS-1D; Thin-film solar cell; Tin sulfide (Sn2S3).