Design of a highly efficient FeS₂-based dual-heterojunction thin film solar cell

ABSTRACT

This article demonstrates a highly efficient FeS₂-based n-ZnSe/p-FeS₂/p⁺-Al_xGa_1-xSb dual-heterojunction thin film solar cell using SCAPS-1D simulator. The study has been carried out taking the physical parameters from the literature. The influence of thickness, doping, and defect concentration of ZnSe, FeS₂, and Al_xGa_1-xSb layers on the photovoltaic performance of the solar cell has been investigated in details. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the n-ZnSe/p-FeS₂ single-heterojunction solar cell is ~23.22% with J_SC = 47.52 mA/cm², V_OC = 0.59 V, and FF = 82.62%, respectively. The PCE of the solar cell further increases to ~36.75% with J_SC = 48.13 mA/cm², V_OC = 0.94 V, and FF = 80.75%, respectively with the insertion of Al_xGa_1-xSb back surface field (BSF) layer. This increase in PCE is mainly due to the enhancement of V_OC which is resulted from the suitable band alignment of the dual-heterojunction devices. These results indicate that FeS₂-based dual-heterojunction thin film solar cell with ZnSe and Al_xGa_1-xSb window and BSF layers, respectively, is a potential candidate to fabricate high efficiency thin film solar cell for harvesting solar energy in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• FeS₂
• ZnSe
• Al_xGa_1-xSb
• dual-heterojunction
• high efficiency

Highlights

• A novel n-ZnSe/p-FeS₂/p⁺- Al_xGa_1-xSb DH solar cell has been simulated using SCAPS-1D.

• ZnSe window provides a PCE of 23.22% with V_OC = 0.59V and J_SC = 47.52 mA/cm², respectively.

• Al_xGa_1-xSb BSF boosts PCE to 36.75% with V_OC=0.94V and J_SC=48.13 mA/cm², respectively.

• Both ZnSe and Al_xGa_1-xSb show potential in FeS₂-based DH solar cell in near future.

Acknowledgments

The authors highly appreciate Dr. Marc Burgelman, University of Gent, Belgium, for providing SCAPS simulation software. The authors have benefited greatly from technical discussions with Professor Richard Soref, University of Massachusetts at Boston, USA.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).