The effects of TCO properties on all-electrodeposited CdS/CdTe PV solar cells

Yates, HM; Sheel, DW; Dharmadasa, IM; Echendu, OK; Fauzi, F

Abstract

There is increased drive to produce renewable clean energy sources, which has led in recent years to the rapid rise of alternatives such as solar PV technology. For a commercially viable product, the PV cells must be of high efficiency along with the ability to be produced by low-cost and scalable processes. We have combined the use of atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) and electro-chemical deposition (ED) as thin film growth techniques, which have proven ability to be both scalable and low-cost industrial processes, for the deposition of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) of F-doped SnO2 on glass substrates, and CdS/CdTe solar cell structures respectively. The effects of TCO morphology and electrical properties on the efficiency of the all ED-CdS/CdTe solar cells were studied. It has been shown that the PV performance is improved on use of low resistivity TCO with rougher (RMS ~43 nm) surface morphology. Preliminary studies on all-electrodeposited devices show that we have achieved promising cell results with high current densities ~39.4 mA cm-2 and efficiencies ~8.1%, using non-optimised window and absorber layers. Optimising these two electrodeposited layers and the APCVD grown TCO will lead to a greater understanding of the process parameters and hence greater PV efficiency.

Citation

Yates, H., Sheel, D., Dharmadasa, I., Echendu, O., & Fauzi, F. The effects of TCO properties on all-electrodeposited CdS/CdTe PV solar cells. Presented at PVSAT-9 9th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference, Swansea, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: PVSAT-9 9th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference
• Conference Location: Swansea, UK
• End Date: Apr 13, 2013
• Publication Date: Apr 13, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 9, 2015
• Book Title: PVSAT-9 9th Photovoltaic Science, Applications and Technology Conference ; Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, Wednesday 10th - Friday 12th April 2013 ; conference proceedings C95
• ISBN: 9780904963793
• Related Public URLs: http://www.uk-ises.org/publications.htm; https://www.pvsat.org.uk/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference