A study on cuprous oxide/ cuprous sulphide thin film solar cells
Date
2008
Authors
Wanninayake, W. T. M. A. P. K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Peradeniya
Abstract
Cuprous oxide is an attractive material for solar cell applications because it is low cost, non- toxic and has a direct band gap of 2eV. In this research work Cu₂O thin films were deposited on titanium substrate by electrodeposition method. Films were investigated by the method of spectral response to ensure that the deposited films were n-type and SEM to obtain surface morphology of the film. Annealing treatment was used to enhance the quality of the films. Partial sulphidation of the Cu₂O films was done with S⁻ containing chemicals (Sodium sulphide and Ammonium sulphide) using five chemical methods in order to make a p-type CuₓS thin layer on the Cu₂O film. Using above methods, Ti/Cu₂/CuₓS/gold heterojunction solar cell was fabricated and heat treatment was done to enhance the quality of the device. I-V characteristics were obtained in both dark and illuminated conditions and final device was tested in natural day light conditions. The best Cu₂O/CuₓS cell exhibited an open circuit voltage of 310mV and short circuit current density of 990μA/cm² under natural light condition. The efficiency of the solar cell is 0.3%. The study reveals the potential application of electrodeposited Cu₂O thin films in low-cost thin film solar cells.
Description
Keywords
Material physics , Cuprousoxide , Solar cell