Article

Investigation of n-ZnO/p-Si and n-TiO2/p-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells: TCAD + DFT

Jasurbek GulomovRenewable Energy Sources Laboratory, Andijan State University, Andijan, UzbeksitanOussama AccoucheCollege of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East, Egaila, KuwaitRayimjon AlievRenewable Energy Sources Laboratory, Andijan State University, Andijan, UzbeksitanRaymond GhandourCollege of Engineering and Technology, American University of the Middle East, Egaila, KuwaitIrodakhon GulomovaRenewable Energy Sources Laboratory, Andijan State University, Andijan, Uzbeksitan

IEEE Accessjournal2023en

ABI

Abstract

This paper focuses on exploring new materials and structure as a means to increase the efficiency of solar cells. Since silicon is widespread on earth, it is desirable to study heterojunction solar cells made mainly of silicon and new materials. Therefore, ZnO/Si and TiO 2 /Si heterojunction solar cells were studied in this paper. First, the electrical and optical properties of ZnO and TiO 2 were determined using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), PBE functional revised for solids (PBESol) and Perdew-Wang (PW91) functionals of the Generalized gradient approximation (GGA) in Density Functional Theory (DFT). The obtained results in various functionals are assessed and analyzed. It was found that geometric optimized structures of TiO 2 and ZnO is mechanical stable. Accordingly, in all functionals, the effective mass of the electron in ZnO and TiO 2 proved to be smaller than that of the hole. The mobility of electrons and holes in ZnO was calculated to be 430.72 cm 2 V -1 s -1 and 5.25 cm 2 V -1 s -1 respectively. In TiO 2 , it was 355.27 cm 2 V -1 s -1 and 46.38 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . When PW91, PBESol, PBE functionals were used, the dielectric constant was determined to be 11, 11.5, 8.5 for ZnO and 9.5, 10, 9 for TiO 2 , respectively. According to the DFT results, it was determined that ZnO and TiO 2 are transparent and mainly n-type direct semiconductors. According to device simulation, the maximum short-circuit current of ZnO/Si and TiO 2 /Si heterojunction solar cells is 18 mA/cm 2 at a thickness of 80 nm and 15.3 mA/cm 2 at a thickness of 40 nm. Finally, the average fill factor of ZnO/Si and TiO 2 /Si solar cells was 0.73 and 0.76 respectively. So TiO 2 can be used as a transparent contact and ZnO as an emitter layer in a silicon-based solar cell.

Topics

ZnO doping and properties Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films Copper-based nanomaterials and applications

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1109/access.2023.3268033

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Cited by 4 90 references

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Investigation of n-ZnO/p-Si and n-TiO<sub>2</sub>/p-Si Heterojunction Solar Cells: TCAD + DFT

Abstract

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