Design optimization and efficiency enhancement of axial junction nanowire solar cells utilizing a forward scattering mechanism

Abstract

We report the design, optimization, and performance analysis of three axial junction nanowire solar cells (NW SCs) based on cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) with significant improvement in their optical and electrical characteristics compared to their planar counterparts. It is shown that the performance of these NW SCs can be further improved by incorporating a hemispherical indium doped tin oxide (ITO) forward scatterer on top of the ITO front contact of the solar cells. We also compare forward scatterer incorporated NW SCs with forward scatterer incorporated planar solar cells (PSCs) and observe that forward scatterers significantly enhance the absorption in both cases. We further study the optimum size and arrangement of ITO hemispheres that result in improved photocurrent. In optimum cases, the incorporation of forward scatterers leads to absorption enhancement of 7.8%, 5.36%, and 8.8% in PSCs, and 21.4%, 7.36%, and 6.02% in NW SCs, respectively, for CdTe, CIGS, and CZTS absorbers in the same order. From the absorption profile at various wavelengths, it is found that forward scatterers enhance absorption in the 450–600 nm wavelength range, while nanowires improve absorption in the 600–800 nm range, and their combination results in an improved absorption profile for the entire visible wavelength range. We also observe increased electron–hole-pair (EHP) generation rate due to increased field-scattering and light concentration at the center of the nanowire below forward scattering hemispheres, leading to 46%, 32%, and 82.5% improvement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) for the three absorber layers, respectively. The effects of Al₂O₃ and SiO₂ passivation layers surrounding the nanowires of the optimized cells are observed, and we conclude that the CIGS absorber benefits the most when the SiO₂ passivation layer is used, increasing its PCE from 29.72% to 32.43%, while the PCEs of CdTe and CZTS are unaffected by the passivation layer due to competing effects of reduced absorption and reduced surface recombination.