Numerical Simulation Studies on CdTe-Based Solar Cells

At present, more than 85% of the energy used for transportation, industry, residential use, and power plants worldwide comes from fossil fuels. The unrestrained use of fossil fuels has increased the extent of greenhouse gases in the environment, accountable for climate emergency and global heating. It is essential to reduce and appropriately manage the consumption of these fuels to restore a stable and healthy environment for a better quality of life and sustainable growth, primarily by substituting them with less harmful and renewable energy sources at readily available, comparable, or acceptable costs in the long run. Solar power being the most abundant and accessible has drawn substantial attention as a remarkably efficient renewable power source in this modern age to fulfill the global energy demand with sustainable, clean, and green energy. In the quest for effective and reasonably priced solar cell innovations, both thin-film and single-crystal silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic cells have seen substantial progress. Since photovoltaic (PV) devices were first introduced, c-Si wafer-based solar cell devices have been well established and become commercially viable, dominating the worldwide solar power market by a margin of approximately 90%. The advantages of c-Si PV cells encompass their great performance, eco-friendliness, endurance, ease of manufacture, and sturdiness to survive challenging weather circumstances. However, the c-Si wafer, which accounts for 50% of c-Si PV module production costs, has a lower optical absorption coefficient, necessitating thicker absorber layers and requiring flexibility. Cadmium telluride (CdTe) has a highly effective absorber layer in PV cells with its high absorption coefficient (>105 cm-1) and direct bandgap ~ 1.50 eV. A conventional CdTe solar cell consists of a few layers: a rear contact, a CdTe absorber, a CdS buffer, and a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer. In the lab, CdTe solar cells have attained record efficiency of 22.1%, and in modules, ~18%. Countless initiatives are planned to increase the stability and effectiveness of CdTe PV further both experimentally and theoretically. The properties and manufacturing process of CdTe solar cells are briefly covered in this chapter. SCAPS-1D, the ‘one-dimensional solar cell capacitance simulator’, is briefly introduced, and then, we summarize the recent research related to SCAPS-1D to predict the performance improvements in CdTe solar cells.