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Pure and Al-doped Zin Oxide ZnO (AZO) thin films with different aluminum (Al) concentrations (0.5, 1, 2, and 3 at.%) were prepared on glass substrates by a dip-coating technique using different Zn and Al precursors. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of these films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), Atomic force electron microscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and four-point probe technique. XRD results showed that the obtained AZO thin films were polycrystalline with a highly c-axis preferred (002) orientation, and the average crystallites size decreased from 29 to 25 nm with the increase in Al doping concentration. EDS microanalysis confirmed the presence of Zn, O and Al elements in the prepared films as expected. The optical study demonstrated that the ZnO thin film had a good transparency in the visible range with a maximum transmittance of 90% and the band gaps varied from 3.16 to 3.26 eV by Al doping. SEM micrographs showed a wrinkles-like morphology of the thin films that changed in density with the increase of Al concentrations. The PL emission spectra indicated that except the thin film doped with 1 at.%, other films exhibited high emission intensities under an excitation of 325 nm which allows to apply them as downconversion layers for solar cell applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The present work is an important issue to optimize the CZTS solar cell performance. • We've first make an experimental study of the CZTS thin film which it's prepared by sol gel dip coating technique. • Used of the experimental parameters obtained by the experience on the numerical study. • By Scaps-1D we study the effect of the active layer thickness on the performance of the studied cell, and also the effect of, shallow acceptor density and work temperature. This work aims to study the basic Characteristics of CZTS thin films produced by chemical solution process in addition to a numerical study of the CZTS-based solar cells. In this context, eco-friendly and cost effective thin films of CZTS were coated on glass substrates by sol–gel dip-coating method. This method is used to grow crystalline CZTS thin films without sulfidation processes. The structural and optical properties have been carried out by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and UV/Visible spectroscopy. The oxidation states of CZTS thin film have been studied by, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS analysis. The performance of CZTS solar cells has been investigated with the simulator SCAPS-1 D. The impact of different parameters like the CZTS absorber layer thickness, the carrier doping density and the operation temperature has been studied to get better understanding of the properties of our cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we have optimized a CZTS-based solar cell using solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D). We particularly focused on replacing the buffer layer, which is conventionally CdS-based, with a non-toxic and abundant material. To this end, we have made a comparative study with 3 materials (CdS, SnS 2 , Zn 2 SnO 4) by evaluating the photovoltaic parameters (Short-circuit current density, open circuit voltage, Fill Factor and efficiency) as a function of the buffer layer thickness. We also studied the effect of the active layer thickness on the performance of the cell, in correlation with different materials used for buffer layer elaboration. We concluded that SnS 2 is the best candidate to replace CdS, which was considered until now the most suitable material. We thus obtained an efficiency of 12.73% with the structure glass/Mo/CZTS/SnS 2 /ZnO by avoiding any toxic product and by reducing the thickness of buffer layer to 50 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]