CuO Film as a Recombination Blocking Layer: a Unique Approach for the Efficiency Improvement of Si Solar Cells

Increasing global demand for energy is inevitable. As energy dependence increases, more stable and efficient forms of energy are needed. Solar energy is the only viable renewable energy source that can meet this growing global demand. But low conversion efficiency is the major challenge for the solar cell devices. Therefore, to achieve better efficiency, CuO is introduced first time as a tunnel oxide passivated layer in this research work. Incorporation of CuO as a tunnel oxide layer between the substrate and base is the unique feature of this proposed work. The CuO tunnel oxide layer acts as an interface passivation layer and restrict the recombination of electrons and holes near the back contact. As a result, the recombination at the contact reduces which ultimately increases the minority charge carrier’s lifetimes in the solar cell, and hence enhances the open circuit voltage (Voc) from 0.71 to 0.76 V and the efficiency from 21.98 to 23.84% of the solar cell.