Influence of Silicon Nanoparticle on the Electrical Properties of Heterostructured CdTe/CdS thin films based Photovoltaic Device

Abstract

This paper presents the influence of silicon nanoparticles at the interface of heterostructured Cadmium telluride and cadmium sulfide thin films based photovoltaic device with improved electrical parameters leading to tremendous improvement in CdS/CdTe thin f ilm based solar cells performance. The films of CdTe, CdS and Si were electrodeposited using electrodeposition technique to form a heterostructured CdTe/Si/CdS/FTO. The films respective structural properties were also examined using X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) before forming a heterostructured material. The heterostructured CdTe/Si/CdS/FTO and the structure without the inclusion of silicon nanoparticle were examined using electrometer for the extraction of electrical parameters such open circuit voltage (VOC), short circuit current density (JSC), and fill factor (FF). Although a large body of experimental results are available to date on the optoelectronics properties of the materials. However, there is relatively low research studies or works on the electrical properties of the materials. Therefore, we formed heterostructured based photovoltaic device and characterized the structure to determine useful electrical properties. The value obtained for VOC, JSC and FF are 418 mV, 25 mA/cm2 and 0.72 which are indicative of pin holes free semiconductor materials and no leakage path emerging from high-grade materials used in the deposition of heterostructured CdTe/Si/CdS.