Influence of Efficient Thickness of Antireflection Coating Layer of HfO2 for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

Authors: Deb Kumar Shah, Devendra KC, Ahmad Umar, Hassan Algadi, Mohammad Shaheer Akhtar, O-Bong Yang

Abstract:

Anti-reflective coating (ARC) layers on silicon (Si) solar cells usually play a vital role in the amount of light absorbed into the cell and protect the device from environmental degradation. This paper reports on the thickness optimization of hafnium oxide (HfO2) as an ARC layer for high-performance Si solar cells with PC1D simulation analysis. The deposition of the HfO2 ARC layer on Si cells was carried out with a low-cost sol-gel process followed by spin coating. The thickness of the ARC layer was controlled by varying the spinning speed. The HfO2 ARC with a thickness of 70 nm possessed the lowest average reflectance of 6.33% by covering wavelengths ranging from 400–1000 nm. The different thicknesses of HfO2 ARC layers were used as input parameters in a simulation study to explore the photovoltaic characteristics of Si solar cells. The simulation findings showed that, at 70 nm thickness, Si solar cells had an exceptional external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 98% and a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.15%. The thicknesses of HfO2 ARC considerably impacted the photovoltaic (PV) characteristics of Si solar cells, leading to achieving high-performance solar cells.

Keywords: silicon solar cell; HfO2; antireflection layer; PC1D simulation; photovoltaic characteristics

Inorganics 2022, 10(10), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics10100171 

Received: 5 September 2022 / Revised: 3 October 2022 / Accepted: 8 October 2022 / Published: 12 October 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2D Materials for Optoelectronic Devices)

MDPI and ACS Style

Shah, D.K.; KC, D.; Umar, A.; Algadi, H.; Akhtar, M.S.; Yang, O.-B. Influence of Efficient Thickness of Antireflection Coating Layer of HfO₂ for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell. Inorganics 2022, 10, 171. https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics10100171

AMA Style

Shah DK, KC D, Umar A, Algadi H, Akhtar MS, Yang O-B. Influence of Efficient Thickness of Antireflection Coating Layer of HfO₂ for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell. Inorganics. 2022; 10(10):171. https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics10100171

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shah, Deb Kumar, Devendra KC, Ahmad Umar, Hassan Algadi, Mohammad Shaheer Akhtar, and O-Bong Yang. 2022. "Influence of Efficient Thickness of Antireflection Coating Layer of HfO₂ for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell" Inorganics 10, no. 10: 171. https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics10100171