Impact of (Al, Sn) doping ZnO optical window on the photovoltaic properties of novel photocells: Al/CuO/Fe2O3:Al/ZnO:(Al, Sn)/SnO2:F

In this research paper, the authors report a comparative study on the photovoltaic characteristics of Al/CuO/alpha-Fe2O3:Al/ZnO:Al/SnO2:F and Al/CuO/alpha-Fe2O3:Al/ZnO:Sn/SnO2:F solar cells by employing simple low-cost chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) and thermal evaporation techniques. Thin films were characterized through X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer and Hall Effect measurements. The electrical parameters of these solar cells were determined using conventional forward bias I-V characteristics. Solar energy conversion efficiency was obtained to be 0.86, 1.57 and 2.8% for photocells synthesized by ZnO, ZnO:Al and ZnO:Sn as optical window layers, respectively, under 100 mW cm(-2) input incident power. Thus, Al/CuO/alpha-Fe2O3:Al/ZnO:Sn/SnO2:F solar cell exhibited superior photovoltaic performance in comparison with Al/CuO/alpha-Fe2O3:Al/ZnO:Al/SnO2:F one.