Numerical simulation and optimization of n-Al-ZnO/n-CdS/p-CZTSe/p-NiO (HTL)/Mo solar cell system using SCAPS-1D

Abstract

The physical features of the CZTSe compound make it excellent for use as a power absorber material in thin-layer solar cells. In this article, we report a simulation of novel hetero-structures of solar cells based on CZTSe, without and with NiO HTL {(Al-ZnO/CdS/CZTSe/Mo) and (Al-ZnO/CdS/CZTSe/NiO HTL/Mo)} employing the Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator-1D (SCAPS-1D) to investigate the solar properties of CZTSe and their application in PV solar cells. Al-ZnO and CdS films have been introduced as transparent conductor oxide and an electron transport layer, NiO as electron blocking-hole transport layer. We investigated the impact of many factors on solar cell performance, such as layer thickness, carrier concentration, defect density, and the incorporation of the NiO HTL layer. The optimal power conversion efficiencies that we found for the examined configurations are 22.42 % and 32.98 %, respectively, with top fill factors greater than 83 % and 86 %.