In this work, a dual-heterojunction (DH) thin film solar cell of notable efficiency has been designed and simulated where p-type CuInSe2 (CIS) has been employed as the base layer in combination with an n-type CdS window and a p + -type GeSe back surface field (BSF) layer. The influences of each layer have been revealed using the SCAPS-1D simulator. While the n-CdS/p-CIS single heterojunction (SH) structure acting alone has been found to be resulted with 24.86% of photoconversion efficiency (PCE) with the JSC = 42.80 mA/cm2, VOC = 0.70 V, and FF = 83.44%, an enhancement to PCE of 30.52% is observed with the corresponding JSC of 44.10 mA/cm2, VOC of 0.86 V, and FF of 80.30% owing to the addition of GeSe as BSF layer in the proposed structure with optimized parameters. Because of the enormous built-in potential of the CIS/GeSe interface, increased VOC mostly contributes to the efficiency enhancement. These findings suggest that the CIS absorber layer with GeSe BSF layer is a promising choice for solar energy harvesting in the near future.
This article reports the design and computational analysis of an efficient GeSe-based n-ZnSe/p-GeSe/p
+-WSe2 dual-heterojunction (DH) thin film solar cell using SCAPS-1D simulation program with physical parameters from the literature. The device has been optimized considering the thickness, doping and defect density of each layer. The optimized device shows an efficiency of ∼42.18% with a short circuit current density, J
SC of 47.84 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage, V
OC of 1.07 V and fill factor, FF of 82.80%, respectively that remains within the Shockley-Queisser limit of a DH solar cell. The raised built-in potential developed between the two interfaces of the devices produces a surpassing V
OC. The higher J
SC is attributed to the current generated by absorption of sub-band gap photons by a tail-states-assisted two-step photon upconversion mechanism in the WSe2 back surface field layer. These results indicate the potential of manufacturing the high efficiency GeSe-based DH solar cell in future.
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