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In this study, the viability of the commercial production of ambient air perovskite solar cells is investigated. In order to address issues with overlapping and non-uniform layers and minimize recombination losses, this study suggests a novel device architecture. A 2 x 2cm² perovskite solar cell with a 4.2% power conversion efficiency (PCE) was successfully created utilizing a straightforward screen-printing technique. After humidity treatment, the short-circuit current (jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) were stabilized at 5.36% due to layer optimization. These results show the potential for the widespread industrial production of more durable and efficient perovskite solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Perovskite Solar Cells (PSKs) are low-cost alternatives to silicon-based solar cells. • Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells (SM-PSKs) allow light passage, which are suitable for windows. • The present SM-PSKs have efficiencies up to 14.78% and transparency up to 26.7%; however, they are facing stability issues. • Carbon incorporation in SM-PSKs enhances their stability, which can be scaled up to modules. • Novel carbon-based SM-PSK architectures are proposed, having a transparency of 8.65% and an efficiency of 5.6%. • The proposed design is sustainable building-integrated energy solutions. Recently, semitransparent perovskite solar cells (SM-PSKs) have been developed, allowing part of the light to pass through the cell while absorbing the rest. Various strategies, including thinning the perovskite layer, innovative electrode materials, and incorporating plasmonic nanoparticles, have been explored, leading to efficiencies up to 14.78 % and transparency of 26.7 %. However, such cells face stability issues and are mostly fabricated in a controlled environment, limiting their scalability to module level and reducing their commercialization prospects. In contrast, carbon incorporation has shown potential for extending the lifespan of opaque PSKs, exhibiting remarkable stability of 1000 h and efficiencies exceeding 16 %. This study employs carbon-based perovskite solar cells fabricated using the screen printing technique with environmental conditions maintained at ambient levels for both temperature and humidity. The architecture of the cell is carefully modified to obtain several novel designs of semitransparent carbon-based perovskite solar cells (CSM-PSKs). UV–Vis spectroscopy tests are performed for each CSM-PSK, resulting in different average visible transparencies (AVT). The electrical properties of the opaque and proposed CSM-PSK designs are characterized using a Solar Simulator (Model: Solixon A-70-CU-2). Among the designs, one CSM-PSK demonstrates superior performance with an AVT of 8.65 % and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.6 %, highlighting their scalability for sustainable building-integrated energy solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modifications in the physical properties of photovoltaic materials lead to enhanced conversion efficiency of a solar cell. This paper focuses on the suitable material selection for the cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell with special emphasis on improving the electrical parameters such as open-circuit voltage Voc, short-circuit current density Jsc, fill factor FF, and efficiency ƞ. Simulation results showed that materials having wide bandgap are more appropriate for each layer in the proposed cell compared to small-bandgap materials. Moreover, the back metal contact, which acts as electrode and also used as light reflector, usually suffers from high intrinsic absorption losses. To reduce such losses, we replaced the metal contact by a highly reflective one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflector, which increases the optical path length in greater amount over a broad span of incident angles and frequencies, and subsequently enhances the performance of the cell. The measured electrical parameters of the proposed cell under global AM 1.5G conditions are JSC = 25.036 mA/cm2, Voc = 1.065 V, FF = 87.56%, and ƞ = 23.94%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the photon absorption in ultrathin-film solar cells with active layer thickness of a few micrometers is important for enhancing efficiency and reducing cost. We present a computational study of novel design consisting of ultrathin absorber layer made of gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated with plasmonic square nanoring particles. The energy absorbed by GaAs layer is significantly enhanced with the help of plasmonic nanorings, resulting in substantial absorption enhancement of approximately 34% compared with bare active layer. For qualitative analysis, the short-circuit current density of thin-film cell is evaluated for AM 1.5 G solar illumination and is found to be 1.4 times higher compared with unpatterned solar cell structure. Furthermore, the structure is optimized by varying different parameters and materials of functional layers, yielding a photocurrent density of 30.185 mA/cm2, which is close to the Yablonovitch limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Novel metasurface absorber based on crossed shaped resonator placed at the top surface is proposed to exhibit enhanced absorption resonances in the entire solar spectrum. Different cases of the absorber are discussed with special emphasis on large spectral width and peak amplitude. It is found that the absorption resonances and their corresponding spectral widths can be significantly modified and widened by adding extra nanorods to the crossed shaped structure at different locations. Furthermore, the weighted absorption under the AM1.5 solar spectrum (A AM1.5) of the solar cell is also evaluated by varying the structural parameters, which reaches to ∼ 86.35%. Such high value of A AM1.5 indicates that the proposed design is highly suitable for solar cell application because it greatly enhance the conversion efficiency. Highlights • The proposed metasurface absorber is composed of bottom gold layer, middle dielectric layer, and top gold layer, which is comprised of cross shaped resonator. • An additional glass layer at top of the resonator layer is also added to transmit maximum light into the structure and resist heat expansion. • Multiple and broad absorption bands are obtained by adding extra gold nanobars with the cross shaped structure. • The absorber offers high values of A AM1.5 (~86.35%), which indicates that it can greatly enhance the conversion efficiency of solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cell has recently gained incredible momentum and is achieving a prominent lead from its counterpart conventional solar cell. Since its reported startup in 2012, perovskite has hit the target of 22 % efficiency in the span of just a few years. Its high efficiency and low cost encourage researchers around the world to continue their research in the hope of improving its performance. This work presents an optimized model of solar cell based on perovskite material, which is developed by optimizing various possible parameters that can essentially influence the performance of the cell. These include the effect of absorber layer thickness, materials for hole transport (HTL) and electron transport (ETL) layers as they play a vital role in the efficiency and stability of the cell, and the doping density. Moreover, the influence of working temperature on the device model is also examined and it is found that the proposed solar cell can even better operate at high temperatures. Upon obtaining the optimal thickness of absorber layer, the best ETL and HTL materials along with the doping concentrations, and effect of temperature, our simulation results show a significant improvement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cell (PSC), achieving a maximum efficiency of 23.05 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar cells based on multi-junctions are considered to be the most efficient way of improving the cell's sunlight to electrical energy conversion efficiency. In this paper, we simulated monolithic tandem solar cell comprised of high and low bandgap materials i.e., perovskite/silicon layers, separated by a recombination layer made of Spiro-MeOTAD/Silicon, a window layer formed from zinc oxide (ZnO), a buffer layer formed from cadmium sulfide (CdS), and a heavily doped back surface field layer made of n++Si to stop the recombination at the back surface. The stated structure is investigated numerically and optimized for different parameters, which include bandgap, thickness of active layers, and dopant concentration. The obtained photovoltaic parameters are: open circuit voltage (V oc) =1.779 V , short circuit current density (J sc) =20.19 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF) = 82.22 %, and efficiency (η) = 28.50 %, respectively. Additionally, we tested the optimized solar cell design for high temperatures, and it turned out that temperature had very little effect on the cell, showing superior performance than conventional multi-junction structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have significantly reduced the overall cost of solar energy system, making solar oriented devices universally clean and green energy source. However, to make OSCs more competitive in diverse photovoltaic (PV) technologies, it is essential to attain high efficiencies by analyzing novel materials and realizing optimal arrangements of donor–acceptor materials. In this paper, we attempt to show a terse depth insight of OSCs by investigating three novel architecture schemes with special emphasis on improving the power conversion efficiency. The materials include include i) poly (3-hexylthiophene):[(6,6)]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM), ii) thieno [3,4-b] thiophene-alt-benzodithiophene [6,6]:-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PTB7:PCBM), and iii) poly{4,4′-bis(2-ethylhexyl) dithieno [3,2-b:2′,3′-d] silole-alt-5,6-difluoro-4,7-bis (4-hexylthiophen-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazle): [6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PDTS-DTffBT:PCBM), respectively. Results show that the extracted performance parameters including short circuit current (J SC) = 10.88 mA/m2, open circuit voltage (V oc) = 0.82 V, fill factor (FF) = 83.52 %, and efficiency (ƞ) = 7.49 % is highest for the second scheme among others. Different intermediate layers have also been analyzed with the objective to reduce the recombination losses and enhance the power conversion efficiency of the proposed cell. The impact of temperature on the overall ղ is also presented and it is discovered that high temperature reduces the performance of the solar cell. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed structure is compared with various kinds of OSCs and it is found that our design exhibit highest efficiency. The achievement of high efficiencies in this work may accelerate the practical applications of OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the light absorption in thin-film solar cell is essential for enhancing efficiency and reducing cost. Here, we propose an ultra-broadband amorphous silicon solar cell based on a periodic array of titanium ring-shaped metasurfaces, which achieves more than 90% absorptance in the visible range of the solar spectrum. The surface plasmon resonance supported by the nanoparticles together with the resonance induced by the metal–insulator–metal Fabry–Perot cavity leads to this broadband absorption. The impact of various materials of functional layers and the geometric structure of the nanoparticle on absorption performance is discussed in detail, and super broadband resonance is achieved after optimization. Moreover, the optimized solar cell is tested for different solar incidence angles and it is found that the structure exhibits high absorption efficiency even at large angles. Thus, the proposed solar cell design may be beneficial for most of the photovoltaic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A polarization-sensitive perfect plasmonic absorber composed of three functional layers is designed and numerically investigated for harvesting of solar energy. The top layer is composed of plasmonic triangular nanoparticles made of aluminum, the middle layer is made of dielectric, and the bottom layer is composed of thick aluminum foil. The dimensions of the absorber structure are carefully selected to exhibit broadband absorption in the visible region, where the electromagnetic energy is maximum. Several configurations of the top layer containing triangular nanoparticles are analyzed with a special emphasis on broadband absorption. It is found that one of the types of absorber structure absorbs more than 90% of incoming light with large spectral width at various regions in the visible and near-infrared regions. Moreover, the weighted mean values under the AM1.5 solar spectrum are also calculated, and high values are obtained, which shows that the proposed structure is most appropriate for thin-film solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]