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Numerical analysis of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells using novel buffer layers

JIREN YUAN1,2,* , LANG ZHOU1, XINHUA DENG2,3, QIMING YU2, QINGFENG WU2

Affiliation

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China
  2. School of Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China
  3. State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Nanjing 210096, China

Abstract

In order to develop completely nontoxic Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) solar cells, a-Si and μc-3C-SiC, which possess passivation property, were considered as alternative buffer layer materials to replace the currently used toxic CdS. The effects of the buffer layer choices on the cell performance were investigated by numerical simulations. The quantum efficiency was calculated to understand its dependence on buffer thicknesses. It is found that the thickness of a-Si buffer has significant impact on cell property. The a-Si buffer layer should not be too thick for higher conversion efficiency. Using μc-3C-SiC as the buffer layer can significantly improve the blue light response of the CZTS solar cell. Our contribution may open up a new route to Cd-free cells by using amorphous or microcrystalline semiconductors to replace the toxic CdS buffer layer..

Keywords

Solar cell, Cu2ZnSnS4, μc-3C-SiC, a-Si, Buffer layer.

Citation

JIREN YUAN, LANG ZHOU, XINHUA DENG, QIMING YU, QINGFENG WU, Numerical analysis of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells using novel buffer layers, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 7, 3-4, March-April 2013, pp.225-230 (2013).

Submitted at: Aug. 26, 2012

Accepted at: April 11, 2013