Regular Article

Enhancement of the performance of CdS/CdTe heterojunction solar cell using TiO₂/ZnO bi-layer ARC and V₂O₅ BSF layers: A simulation approach^★

¹ Solar Energy Laboratory, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
² Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University ; Saitama 338-8570, Japan
³ Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 5400, Bangladesh

^* e-mail: kuddus4910@gmail.com

Received: 4 July 2020
Received in final form: 5 September 2020
Accepted: 8 September 2020
Published online: 4 November 2020

Abstract

This article presents the role of Bi-layer anti-reflection coating (ARC) of TiO₂/ZnO and back surface field (BSF) of V₂O₅ for improving the photovoltaic performance of Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) based heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs). The simulation was performed at different concentrations, thickness, defect densities of each active materials and working temperatures to optimize the most excellent structure and working conditions for achieving the highest cell performance using obtained optical and electrical parameters value from the experimental investigation on spin-coated CdS, CdTe, ZnO, TiO₂ and V₂O₅ thin films deposited on the glass substrate. The simulation results reveal that the designed CdS/CdTe based heterojunction cell offers the highest efficiency, η of ∼25% with an enhanced open-circuit voltage, V_oc of 0.811 V, short circuit current density, J_sc of 38.51 mA cm⁻², fill factor, FF of 80% with bi-layer ARC and BSF. Moreover, it appears that the TiO₂/ZnO bi-layer ARC, as well as ETL and V₂O₅ as BSF, could be highly promising materials of choice for CdS/CdTe based heterojunction solar cell.