OPTIMIZATION OF MONOCLINIC Cu2SnS3 (CTS) THIN FILM SOLAR CELL PERFORMANCES THROUGH NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Investigation on the performance of monoclinic phase copper tin sulfide (CTS) based thin film solar cells has been carried out numerically by AMPS-1D simulation software. Based on proposed cell structure, the influence of carrier concentration and thickness of both absorber and buffer layers as well as the work function of back contact metal are studied to enhance the output performance of monoclinic phase CTS thin film solar cell. The effect of operating temperature is also tested for CTS solar cell to ensure the sustainability at outdoor installation. After optimizing the thickness and carrier concentration of both layers, the best CTS cell is delivers 9.61% efficiency with back contact of molybdenum. However, after optimization of back contact metal work function the conversion efficiency is further increased to 17.87% for tungsten as back contact metal with a work function of 5.25 eV. The increased temperature shows a negative effect on output performance with a decline efficiency rate of -0.33/K. All these simulation results will give some important guides for feasibly fabricating higher efficiency CTS solar cells.