Spectral and Temperature Properties of Solar Cells Based on Cadmium Telluride Thin-Films

Editorial Board PCSS Journal; V.Y. Fedenko; R.S. Yavorskyi; A.I. Kashuba; B.S. Dzundza

doi:10.15330/pcss.26.3.658-665

Authors

V.Y. Fedenko Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
R.S. Yavorskyi Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
A.I. Kashuba Lviv Polytechnic National Universuty, Lviv, Ukraine
B.S. Dzundza Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15330/pcss.26.3.658-665

Keywords:

photovoltaic devices, renewable energy, temperature dependencies, wavelength spectrum, cadmium telluride, optical properties

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of CdTe layer thickness on the spectral characteristics and parameters of the Au/CdTe/CdS/ITO thin-film heterostructure using both modeling and experimental measurements. The thin-film solar cell was deposited by RF magnetron sputtering in vacuum. Numerical analysis in the SCAPS-1D simulation environment enabled the evaluation of the dependencies: efficiency, short-circuit current density, and open-circuit voltage on the wavelength spectrum and absorber layer thickness. It was shown that increasing the absorber layer thickness to 3-4 µm promotes the growth of both current density and open-circuit voltage, which is consistent with experimental measurements. The obtained temperature dependencies indicate a decrease in efficiency with increasing temperature under both monochromatic spectra and solar illumination, with the temperature dependencies of relative efficiency under monochromatic and direct solar illumination being nearly identical.

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