Skip to main content

Optimization of Electro-Optical Performance and Material Parameters for a Tandem Metal Oxide Solar Cell

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2018 (ICCSA 2018)

Abstract

In this work, investigation of a silicon-based tandem heterojunction solar cell was iterated via numerical modeling. The tandem cell was split into a top metal oxide and bottom c-Si subcell, and each subcell was analyzed and compared with experimental data. For the top subcell, Silvaco Atlas was used to ascertain optimum materials for the buffer layer and their impact on the cell performance. For the bottom subcell, a Quokka 2 model has be used to evaluate and compare current-voltage and quantum efficiency curves with experimental data. Transfer matrix algorithm was used to ascertain top subcell optical field characterization. The buffer layer materials for the ZnO/Cu2O subcell that yielded best cell performance are presently TiO2 and Ga2O3 while the Quokka 2 model presents a good fit with the experimental curves.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wong, T.K., Zhuk, S., Masudy-Panah, S., Dalapati, G.K.: Current status and future prospects of copper oxide heterojunction solar cells. Materials 9(4), 271 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Takiguchi, Y., Miyajima, S.: Device simulation of cuprous oxide heterojunction solar cells. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 54, 112303 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lindberg, P., Gorantla, S., Gunnæs, A., Svensson, B.G., Monakhov, E.: Electronic properties and morphology of copper oxide/n-type silicon heterostructures. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 29(31), 314701 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nordseth, Ø., Kumar, R., Bergum, K., Fara, L., Foss Sean, S.E., Haug, H., Dragan, F., Craciunescu, D., Sterian, P., Chilibon, I., Vasiliu, C., Baschir, L., Savastru, D., Monakhov, E., Svensson, B.G.: Optical analysis of a ZnO/Cu2O subcell in a silicon-based tandem heterojunction solar cell. Green Sustain. Chem. 7, 57–69 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Minami, T., Nishi, Y., Miyata, T.: Relationship between the electrical properties of the n-oxide and p-Cu2O layers and the photovoltaic properties of Cu2O-based heterojunction solar cells. Sol. Energ. Mat. Sol. Cells 147, 85–93 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Siol, S., Hellman, J.C., Tilley, D., Gratzel, M., Morasch, J., Deuermeier, J., Jaegermann, W., Klein, A.: Band Alignment Engineering at Cu2O/ZnO Heterointerfaces. ACS Appl. Mater. 8(33), 21824–21831 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lloyd, M.A., Siah, S.C., Brandt, R.E., Serdy, J., Johnson, S.W., Lee, Y.S., Buinassisi, T.: Intrinsic defect engineering of cuprous oxide to enhance electrical transport properties for photovoltaic applications. In: IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), vol. 2016, pp. 3443–3445, Denver, CO (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Tolstova, Y., Omelchenko, S.T., Blackwell, R.E., Shing, A.M.: Polycrystalline Cu2O photovoltaic devices incorporating Zn(O, S) window layers. Sol. Energ. Mat. Sol. Cells 160, 340–345 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Minami, T., Nishi, Y., Miyata, T.: High-efficiency Cu2O-based heterojunction solar cells fabricated using a Ga2O3 thin film as n-type layer. Appl. Phys. Express 6(4), 044101 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Robertson, J., Falabretti, B.: Band offsets of high K gate oxides on III-V semiconductors. J. Appl. Phys. 100, 014111 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Brandt, R.E., Young, M., Hejin, H.P., Dameron, A., Chua, D., Lee, S.Y., Teeter, G., Gordon, R., Buonassisi, T.: Band offsets of n-type electron-selective contacts on cuprous oxide (Cu2O) for photovoltaics. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 263901 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Oku, T., Yamada, T., Fujimoto, K., Akiyama, T.: Microstructures and photovoltaic properties of Zn(Al)O/Cu2O-based solar cells prepared by spin-coating and electrodeposition. Coatings 4, 203–213 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lee, S.W., Lee, Y.S., Heo, J., Siah, S.C., Chua, D., Brandt, R.E., Kim, S.B., Mailoa, J.P., Buonassisi, T., Gordon, R.: Improved Cu2O-based solar cells using atomic layer deposition to control the Cu oxidation state at the p–n junction. Adv. Energy Mater. 4(11) (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Sterian, A., Sterian, P.: Mathematical models of dissipative systems in quantum engineering. Math. Probl. Eng. 24, 2012 (2012)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Stefanescu, E., Sterian, A.R., Sterian, P.: Study on the fermion systems coupled by electric dipol interaction with the free electromagnetic field. Advanced Laser Technologies 2004, vol. 5850, pp. 160–166. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 7 June 2005

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sterian, A.R.: Computer modeling of the coherent optical amplifier and laser systems. In: Gervasi, O., Gavrilova, Marina L. (eds.) ICCSA 2007. LNCS, vol. 4705, pp. 436–449. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74472-6_35

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Rosu, C., Manaila-Maximean, D., Donescu, D., Frunza, S., Sterian, A.R.: Influence of polarizing electric fields on the electrical and optical properties of polymer-clay composite system. Mod. Phys. Lett. B 24(01), 65–73 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Lazar, B., Sterian, A., Pusca, S., Paun, V., Toma, C., Morarescu, C.: Simulating delayed pulses in organic materials. Comput. Sci. Appl.-ICCSA 2006, 779–784 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ninulescu, V., Sterian, A.-R.: Dynamics of a two-level medium under the action of short optical pulses. In: Gervasi, O., Gavrilova, Marina L., Kumar, V., Laganà, A., Lee, H.P., Mun, Y., Taniar, D., Tan, C.J.K. (eds.) ICCSA 2005. LNCS, vol. 3482, pp. 635–642. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/11424857_70

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Yang, X.J., Machado, J.T., Cattani, C., Gao, F.: On a fractal LC-electric circuit modeled by local fractional calculus. Commun. Nonlinear Sci. Numer. Simul. 30(47), 200–206 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Nordseth, Ø., Fara, L., Kumar, R., Foss, S.E., Dumitru, C., Muscurel, V., Dragan, F., Craciunescu, D., Bergum, K., Haug, H., Sterian, P., Chilibon, I., Vasiliu, C., Baschir, L., Savastru, D., Monakhov, E., Svensson, B.G.: Electro-optical modeling of a ZnO/Cu2O subcell in a silicon-based tandem heterojunction solar cell. In: 33rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (session 1CV.3.85), pp. 172–177 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Dumitru, C., Muscurel, V., Nordseth, Ø., Fara, L., Sterian, P.: Electrical modeling of the buffer layer for a Cu2O/ZnO solar cell using Silvaco Atlas. U.P.B. Sci. Bull., Series B 79(2), 173–178 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mitroi, R., Ninulescu, V., Fara, L.: Tandem solar cells based on Cu2O and c-Si subcells in parallel configuration: numerical simulation. Int. J. Photoenergy, 2017, 6 p. (2017). Art. ID 7284367

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mitroi, R., Ninulescu, V., Fara, L.: Performance optimization of solar cells based on heterojunctions with Cu2O: numerical analysis. J. Energy Eng. 143(4), 04017005 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was conducted under: (1) the research project SOLHET, 2016–2019, M-ERA.Net program, supported by the Research Council of Norway (RCN), project no. 251789 and the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), project no. 34/2016; (2) the project MultiscaleSolar MP1406, 2015–2019, supported by the European Commission through COST program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Laurentiu Fara or Paul Sterian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Dumitru, C., Muscurel, V., Nordseth, Ø., Fara, L., Sterian, P. (2018). Optimization of Electro-Optical Performance and Material Parameters for a Tandem Metal Oxide Solar Cell. In: Gervasi, O., et al. Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2018. ICCSA 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10961. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95165-2_40

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95165-2_40

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95164-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95165-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics