3-D Modeling of Ultrathin Solar Cells with Nanostructured Dielectric Passivation: Case Study of Chalcogenide Solar Cells
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ArticleKAUST Department
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) DivisionKAUST Solar Center (KSC)
Material Science and Engineering Program
KAUST Grant Number
OSR-CARF URF/1/3079-33-01Date
2021-09-09Online Publication Date
2021-09-09Print Publication Date
2021-11Embargo End Date
2022-09-09Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/671173
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Ultrathin solar cells can be a path forward to low-cost photovoltaics due to their reduced material consumption and shorter required deposition times. With excellent surface passivation, such devices may feature higher open-circuit voltages (VOC). However, their short-circuit current density (JSC) may be reduced due to decreased light absorption. This mandates implementation of efficient light-trapping structures. To design efficient ultrathin solar cells that combine surface-passivation and light-trapping features, accurate 3-D modeling is necessary. To this end, a novel 3-D optoelectrical finite-element model is developed to analyze the performance of ultrathin solar cells. The model is applied to the case of ultrathin (<500 nm) chalcogenide solar cells (copper indium gallium (di) selenide, CIGSe), rear-passivated with nanostructured Al2O3 to circumvent optical and electrical losses. It is found that such a nanopatterned dielectric passivation scheme enhances broadband light-trapping with reduced rear-surface recombination, resulting in an absolute power conversion efficiency enhancement of 3.9%, compared to cells without passivation structure. Overall, the work shows how 3-D finite element modeling can aid in analyzing and developing new optical and electrical solar cell designs for ultrathin solar cells such as those based on chalcogenides and perovskites.Citation
Raja, W., Aydin, E., Allen, T. G., & De Wolf, S. (2021). 3-D Modeling of Ultrathin Solar Cells with Nanostructured Dielectric Passivation: Case Study of Chalcogenide Solar Cells. Advanced Theory and Simulations, 2100191. doi:10.1002/adts.202100191Sponsors
This work was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under award no. OSR-CARF URF/1/3079-33-01.Publisher
WileyJournal
Advanced Theory and SimulationsAdditional Links
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adts.202100191ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/adts.202100191