Numerical Modelling of High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cell Using Various Anti Reflective Coatings (ARC)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48048/tis.2024.7337Keywords:
Silicon heterojunction solar cell, Anti-reflective coating, Photovoltaic, Optical properties, Electrical properties, PC1DAbstract
The growing prevalence of solar in recent years, which is applied in practically every daily item comprehensively and broadly to make it simpler on consumers due to the consumption of solar resulting in a lot of savings. Anti-reflective coating (ARC) is one of the most important factors contributing to the extensive application of solar. It was acknowledged that ARC had been applied on solar cells to minimize reflection loss, enhance absorption, and boost power conversion efficiency (PCE). The efficiency of solar cell varies depending on the type of ARC material used and its specific characteristics. Since each anti-reflective coating originates from its own formula, there are many different materials produced and manufactured to be applied on solar cells. Hence, in this paper, the simulation of 6 different materials of anti-reflective coating (ARC) coatings has been analyzed and investigated using PC1D simulation software. The outcomes revealed that the ideal wavelength for developing and constructing an ARC would be around 500 and 800 nm. Silicon nitrite (Si3N4) would be the best ARC for designing a single-layer ARC due to its highest efficiency of 21.69 % and exhibits the lowest reflectance, closely followed by zinc oxide (ZnO) which has the efficiency of 21.67 %. Then, zinc sulphate (ZnS) and Titanium Oxide (TiO2) has the efficiency of 21.16 and 21.05 % respectively. While, the silicon dioxide (SiO2) has an efficiency of 20.23 % and lastly, silicon carbide (SiC) has lowest efficiency of 17.07 %. Based on the PC1D simulation software carried out in this research, the data and outcomes regarding the voltage, current, maximum power output, solar efficiency, fill factor, reflectivity, and external quantum efficiency are also reported.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The ARC material and its properties affect solar cell efficiency
- This study used PC1D simulation software to evaluate 6 anti-reflective coating (ARC) materials
- The results showed that 500 - 800 nm is the best wavelength for ARC development and construction
- Silicon nitrite (Si3N4) ARC has the highest efficiency (21.69 %) and lowest reflectance, making it ideal for single-layer ARCs
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Downloads
Metrics
References
Greenmatch. Silicon solar cells, Available at: https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/solar-energy/solar-panels/photovoltaic-cells/silicon, accessed May 2023.
T Tiedje, E Yablonovitch, GD Cody and BG Brooks. Limiting efficiency of silicon solar cells. IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices 1984; 31, 711-16.
M Medhat, ES El-Zaiat, S Farag, G Youssef and R Alkhadry. Enhancing silicon solar cell efficiency with double layer Antireflection coating. Turk. J. Phys. 2016; 40, 30-9.
Solar Cell Working Principle, Available at: https://studiousguy.com/solar-cell-workingprinciple/#
Working_Principle_of_Solar_Cell, accessed May 2023.
MA Zahid, MQ Khokhar, EC Cho, YH Cho and J Yi. Impact of anti-reflective coating on silicon solar cell and glass substrate : A brief review. Curr. Photovolt.: Res. 2020; 8, 1-5.
N Shanmugam, R Pugazhendhi, RM Elavarasan, P Kasiviswanathan and N Das. Anti-reflective coating materials: A holistic review from PV perspective. Energies 2020; 13, 1-93.
K Marszałek, P Winkowski and M Marszałek. Antireflective bilayer coatings based on Al2O3 film for UV region. Mater. Sci. Pol. 2015; 33, 6-10.
BG Priyadashini and AK Sharma. Design of multi-layer anti-reflection coating for terrestrial solar panel glass. Bull. Mater. Sci. 2016; 39, 683-9.
NM Naser and BT Mustafa. Single layer anti-reflective (AR) coating silicon solar cells using simulation program. Zanco J. Pure Appl. Sci. 2016; 28, 2-7.
RI Jabbar. Modeling and analysis of different antireflection polymer coating on silicon solar cell using Pc1d software. J. Mech. Eng. Res. Dev. 2020; 43, 222-32.
G Hashmi, MJ Rashid, ZH Mahmood, M Hoq and MH Rahman. Investigation of the impact of different ARC layers using PC1D simulation: application to crystalline silicon solar cells. Theor. Appl. Phys. 2018; 12, 327-34.
M Uniyal. PN Junction Solar Cell, Available at: https://byjusexamprep.com/pn-junction-solar-cell-i, accessed May 2023.
C Honsberg and S Bowden. P-n Junctions, Available at: https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/p-n-junctions#:~:text=A pn junction separates the,carrier selective contacts2%2C3, accessed May 2023.
Asrmeta. What is a solar cell?, Available at: https://www.asrmeta.com/solar-cells-their-construction-and-working/, accessed May 2023.
Snell’s Law, Available at: https://byjus.com/snells-law-formula/, accessed May 2023.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. Snell’s law, Available at: https://www.britannica.
com/science/Snells-law, accessed May 2023.
C Jiang, T Li, X Zhang and L Hou. Simulation of silicon solar cell using PC1D. Adv. Mater. Res. 2012; 383-390, 7032-6.
M Belarbi, A Benyoucef and B Benyoucef. Simulation of the solar cells with PC1D, application to cells based on silicon. Adv. Energy Mater. 2014; 1, 1-10.
C Honsberg and S Bowden. PC1D, Available at: https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/welcome-to-pvcdrom/pc1d, accessed May 2023.
CS Solanki, BM Arora, J Vasi and MB Patil. Solar cell simulation using PC1D simulator. In: CS Solanki, BM Arora, J Vasi and MB Patil (Eds.). Solar photovoltaics: A lab training manual. Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, India, 2012, p. 130-46.
B Kumaragurubaran and S Anandhi. Reduction of reflection losses in solar cell using anti reflective coating. In: Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Computation of Power, Energy, Information and Communication, Chennai, India, 2014, p. 155-7.
Science on a Sphere. ClimateBits: Solar radiation, Available at: https://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/climatebits-solar-radiation/#:~:text=According to the UCAR COMET,wavelengths between about 400-700nm, accessed May 2023.
D Kc, DK Shah, AM Alanazi and MS Akhtar. Impact of different antireflection layers on cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells: a PC1D simulation study. J. Electron. Mater. 2021; 50, 2199-205.
MR Khan, X Wang, P Bermel and MA Alam. Enhanced light trapping in solar cells with a meta-mirror following generalized Snell’s law. Opt. Express 2014; 22, A973.
D Shen, Y Shao and Y Zhu. Bandgap trimming and optical properties of Si3N4:Al microbelt phosphors for warm white light-emitting diodes. CrystEngComm 2019; 21, 6566-73.
A Suhandi, YR Tayubi, FC Wibowo, P Arifin and Supriyatman. Reducing the light reflected by silicon surface using ZnO/TS antireflection coating. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2017; 877, 012068.
M Subramanian, OM Aldossary, M Alam, M Ubaidullah, S Gedi, L Vaduganathan, GS Thirunavukkarasu, E Jamei, M Seyedmahmoudian, A Stojcevski and S Mekhilef. Optimization of antireflection coating design using pc1d simulation for c-si solar cell application. Electronics 2021; 10, 3132.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Walailak University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
