Enhanced broadband and omnidirectional performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells with ZnO functional nanotree arrays

Abstract

An effective approach is demonstrated for enhancing photoelectric conversion of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells with three-dimensional ZnO nanotree arrays. Under a simulated one-sun condition, cells with ZnO nanotree arrays enhance the short-circuit current density by 10.62%. The omnidirectional anti-reflection of CIGS solar cells with various ZnO nanostructures is also investigated. The solar-spectrum weighted reflectance is approximately less than 5% for incident angles of up to 60° and for the wavelengths primarily from 400 nm to 1000 nm. This enhancement in light harvesting is attributable to the gradual refractive index profile between the ZnO nanostructures and air.