Thickness dependent studies of hetero-junction solar cell synthesized on quartz substrate by spray pyrolysis technique

Abstract

Variable thickness hetero-junction solar cells synthesized on quartz substrate by spray pyrolysis technique synthesized quartz based solar cells have been found to possess cell parameters such as open circuit voltage, saturation current density, fill factor and efficiency in the range of 191 – 449 mV, 2×10^-9 – 0.11×10^-6 A cm^-2, 15 – 20 % and 0.2×10^-9 – 3.35×10^-6 % at 206 mW/cm² (at air mass 5.6), respectively. Series and shunt resistance of the solar cells have been found to vary with the thickness of semiconductor films. Thick film solar cells are found to possess reasonably good cell parameters compared to thin film solar cells due to enhancement of charge concentration, mobility, grain size, variation of optical band gap, excesses atomic percentage of Ti, Cu, Te, Sn elements in TiO₂, CuO, CdTe, SnS films and less structural defects, increment of activation energy as well as existence of mixed phase at the Schottky barrier. The optical response of hetero-junction solar cells is found to be thickness dependent. Good rectifying characteristic has been reported in the present work for both thick and thin hetero-junction solar cells. All the measurements have been performed in air without protection against oxygen gas or moisture, which shows the stability of spray pyrolyzed thin films.