TY - GEN
T1 - Optoelectronic Modeling of Graded-Bandgap Thin-Film Solar Cells
AU - Ahmad, F.
AU - Lakhtakia, A.
AU - Monk, P. B.
AU - Civiletti, B. J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021/9/12
Y1 - 2021/9/12
N2 - Thin-film solar cells are cheap and easy to manufacture but require improvements as their efficiencies are low compared to that of the commercially dominant crystalline-silicon solar cells. A coupled optoelectronic model was formulated and implemented along with the differential evolution algorithm to assess the efficacy of grading the bandgap of the absorber layer in three thin-film solar cells. Optimal grading was predicted to yield efficiency of 21.1% with a 2200-nm-thick CIGS absorber layer for the CIGS solar cell, 21.14% with a 870-nm-Thick CZTSSe layer for the CZTSSe solar cell, and 34.5% with a 2000-nm-Thick AlGaAs layer for the AlGaAs solar cell. For a solar cell with two bandgap-graded absorber layers, an efficiency of 34.45% was predicted with a 300-nm-Thick CIGS layer and a 870-nm-Thick CZTSSe layer. For colored solar cells, efficiency loss was predicted from 10% to 20%, depending upon the percentage of incoming solar photons rejected.
AB - Thin-film solar cells are cheap and easy to manufacture but require improvements as their efficiencies are low compared to that of the commercially dominant crystalline-silicon solar cells. A coupled optoelectronic model was formulated and implemented along with the differential evolution algorithm to assess the efficacy of grading the bandgap of the absorber layer in three thin-film solar cells. Optimal grading was predicted to yield efficiency of 21.1% with a 2200-nm-thick CIGS absorber layer for the CIGS solar cell, 21.14% with a 870-nm-Thick CZTSSe layer for the CZTSSe solar cell, and 34.5% with a 2000-nm-Thick AlGaAs layer for the AlGaAs solar cell. For a solar cell with two bandgap-graded absorber layers, an efficiency of 34.45% was predicted with a 300-nm-Thick CIGS layer and a 870-nm-Thick CZTSSe layer. For colored solar cells, efficiency loss was predicted from 10% to 20%, depending upon the percentage of incoming solar photons rejected.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85118422549
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85118422549#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1109/MIEL52794.2021.9569027
DO - 10.1109/MIEL52794.2021.9569027
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85118422549
T3 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Microelectronics, ICM
SP - 101
EP - 102
BT - 2021 IEEE 32nd International Conference on Microelectronics, MIEL 2021 - Proceedings
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 32nd IEEE International Conference on Microelectronics, MIEL 2021
Y2 - 12 September 2021 through 14 September 2021
ER -