The monocrystalline silicon is a promising material that could be used in solar cells that convert light into electricity. Although the cost of ordinary silicon (Si) solar cells has decreased significantly over the pa...The monocrystalline silicon is a promising material that could be used in solar cells that convert light into electricity. Although the cost of ordinary silicon (Si) solar cells has decreased significantly over the past two decades, the conversion efficiency of these cells has remained relatively high. While solar cells have a great potential as a device of renewable energy, the high cost they incur per Watt continues to be a significant barrier to their widespread implementation. As a consequence, it is vital to conduct research into alternate materials that may be used in the construction of solar cells. The heterojunction solar cell (HJSC), which is based on n-type zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and p-type silicon (p-Si), is one of the numerous alternatives of the typical Si single homojunction solar cell. There are many deficiencies that can be found in the published research on n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell. Inconsistencies in the stated value of open circuit voltage (V<sub>oc</sub>) of the solar cell are one example of deficiency. The absence of a full theoretical study to evaluate the potential of the solar cell structure is another deficiency that can be found in these researches. A lower value of experimentally obtained V<sub>OC</sub> in comparison to the theoretical prediction based on the band-gap between n-ZnO and p-Si. There needs to be more consensus among scientists regarding the optimal conditions for the growth of zinc oxide. Many software’s are available for simulating and optimizing the solar cells based on these parameters. For this purpose, in this dissertation, I provide computational results relevant to n-ZnO/p-Si HJSC to overcome deficiencies that have been identified. While modeling and simulating the potential of the solar cell structure with AFORS-HET, it is essential to consider the constraints that exist in the real world. AFORS-HET was explicitly designed to mimic the multilayer solar cell arrangement. In AFORS-HET, we can add up to seven layers for solar cell layout. By using this software, we can figure out the open circuit voltage (V<sub>OC</sub>), the short circuit current (J<sub>SC</sub>), the quantum efficiency (QE, %), the heterojunction energy band structure, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE).展开更多
文摘The monocrystalline silicon is a promising material that could be used in solar cells that convert light into electricity. Although the cost of ordinary silicon (Si) solar cells has decreased significantly over the past two decades, the conversion efficiency of these cells has remained relatively high. While solar cells have a great potential as a device of renewable energy, the high cost they incur per Watt continues to be a significant barrier to their widespread implementation. As a consequence, it is vital to conduct research into alternate materials that may be used in the construction of solar cells. The heterojunction solar cell (HJSC), which is based on n-type zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and p-type silicon (p-Si), is one of the numerous alternatives of the typical Si single homojunction solar cell. There are many deficiencies that can be found in the published research on n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell. Inconsistencies in the stated value of open circuit voltage (V<sub>oc</sub>) of the solar cell are one example of deficiency. The absence of a full theoretical study to evaluate the potential of the solar cell structure is another deficiency that can be found in these researches. A lower value of experimentally obtained V<sub>OC</sub> in comparison to the theoretical prediction based on the band-gap between n-ZnO and p-Si. There needs to be more consensus among scientists regarding the optimal conditions for the growth of zinc oxide. Many software’s are available for simulating and optimizing the solar cells based on these parameters. For this purpose, in this dissertation, I provide computational results relevant to n-ZnO/p-Si HJSC to overcome deficiencies that have been identified. While modeling and simulating the potential of the solar cell structure with AFORS-HET, it is essential to consider the constraints that exist in the real world. AFORS-HET was explicitly designed to mimic the multilayer solar cell arrangement. In AFORS-HET, we can add up to seven layers for solar cell layout. By using this software, we can figure out the open circuit voltage (V<sub>OC</sub>), the short circuit current (J<sub>SC</sub>), the quantum efficiency (QE, %), the heterojunction energy band structure, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE).
