Numerical analysis of Ga gradient effects in ACIGS absorbers for high-efficiency tandem solar cells

IF 3.3 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Optical and Quantum Electronics Pub Date : 2025-03-12 DOI:10.1007/s11082-025-08092-5

Nour El I. Boukortt, Antonio Garcia Loureiro, Ohood A. Almutairi

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Abstract

Ag-alloyed Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (ACIGS) is a promising material for the bottom subcell in tandem solar cell structures, offering a tunable bandgap that spans the optimal range for maximum efficiency; however, the bandgap widening of ACIGS thin films poses a significant challenge in enhancing their photocurrent. This paper investigates the impact of different grading profiles, specifically focusing on the 'hockey stick'/V-like Ga gradient–induced (GGI) profiles, on the performance of thin-film ACIGS cells. To enhance the physical understanding of these grading profiles we have used Silvaco TCAD tools to analyze how these profiles' depths, notch position, and slope affect the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The optimized ACIGS cell achieves a PCE of 25.80%, compared to 23.60% for the reference device. For the tandem configuration, we pair the optimized ACIGS bottom cell (double grading profile) with a perovskite top cell (band gap ~ 1.66 eV), achieving an overall efficiency of 30.26% under AM1.5G illumination. The obtained results highlight the critical role of Ga gradient profiles in enhancing the bottom cell's performance and stability. Additionally, we compare our results with existing studies to evaluate the broader impact of Ga compositional optimization on ACIGS-based solar cells. This work provides valuable insights into advanced grading strategies and helps us understand the physical behaviour of these high-performance tandem solar cells.

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高效串联太阳能电池ACIGS吸收器中Ga梯度效应的数值分析

ag合金Cu(In,Ga)Se₂（ACIGS）是一种很有前途的材料，用于串联太阳能电池结构的底部亚电池，提供可调的带隙，跨越最佳范围以获得最大效率；然而，ACIGS薄膜的带隙加宽对增强其光电流提出了重大挑战。本文研究了不同梯度分布对薄膜ACIGS电池性能的影响，特别关注了“曲棍球棒”/ v型Ga梯度诱导（GGI）分布。为了加强对这些分级剖面的物理理解，我们使用了Silvaco TCAD工具来分析这些剖面的深度、缺口位置和坡度如何影响功率转换效率（PCE）。优化后的ACIGS电池的PCE为25.80%，而参考装置的PCE为23.60%。对于串联结构，我们将优化的ACIGS底部电池（双分级剖面）与钙钛矿顶部电池（带隙~ 1.66 eV）配对，在AM1.5G照明下实现了30.26%的总效率。所得结果强调了Ga梯度剖面在提高底电池性能和稳定性方面的关键作用。此外，我们将我们的结果与现有研究进行比较，以评估Ga成分优化对基于acigs的太阳能电池的更广泛影响。这项工作为先进的分级策略提供了有价值的见解，并帮助我们了解这些高性能串联太阳能电池的物理行为。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Optical and Quantum Electronics 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

20.00%

发文量

810

审稿时长

3.8 months

期刊介绍： Optical and Quantum Electronics provides an international forum for the publication of original research papers, tutorial reviews and letters in such fields as optical physics, optical engineering and optoelectronics. Special issues are published on topics of current interest. Optical and Quantum Electronics is published monthly. It is concerned with the technology and physics of optical systems, components and devices, i.e., with topics such as: optical fibres; semiconductor lasers and LEDs; light detection and imaging devices; nanophotonics; photonic integration and optoelectronic integrated circuits; silicon photonics; displays; optical communications from devices to systems; materials for photonics (e.g. semiconductors, glasses, graphene); the physics and simulation of optical devices and systems; nanotechnologies in photonics (including engineered nano-structures such as photonic crystals, sub-wavelength photonic structures, metamaterials, and plasmonics); advanced quantum and optoelectronic applications (e.g. quantum computing, memory and communications, quantum sensing and quantum dots); photonic sensors and bio-sensors; Terahertz phenomena; non-linear optics and ultrafast phenomena; green photonics.