Unveiling the prospect of a novel chemical route for synthesizing solution-processed CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells

In this paper, an in-depth analysis of the photovoltaic parameters of solar cells is carried out to reveal the prospect of fabricating TX-100 surfactant-induced thiol-amine cosolvent-assisted CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) via the spin-coating process. The research is carried out through SCAPS-1D simulations using the parameters obtained from thin-film characterizations of the as-deposited and/or pre-annealed and annealed CdS and CdTe thin-films deposited on the SLG substrates at various annealing temperatures (200–350​ ∘ C), time (3–8 min) and circumstances (low-vacuum, glass-protected air, open-air) with and without surfactant, respectively. First, the effects of surfactant and different annealing conditions on the device performance are reproduced through simulations. Thereafter, the temperature-annealed solar cell with added surfactant is optimized by extensive variation in thickness, doping, bulk, and interface defect densities, resistance, and temperature. This article also provides a plausible description of the function and choosing guidelines of the TCO layer and back metal in ameliorating the performance/cost ratio of the device. Results show that the use of surfactant and heat treatment on the deposited thin films of CdS window and CdTe absorber layers can greatly enhance the performance. Under global AM 1.5 irradiance at 300 K, the optimized CdS/CdTe TFSC presents an efficiency of 18.37% with J SC of 25.64 mA/cm2, V OC of 870 mV, FF of 82.31%, and QE of 90.44%, respectively. This study reveals that a novel chemical route employing TX-100 surfactant and thiol-amine cosolvent for synthesizing solution-processed CdS/CdTe solar cells using a low-cost facile spin-coating method could be a cutting edge TFSC technology for industrial scaling in the near future.