Ali Md Hasan, Haque Md Dulal, Hossain Md Faruk, Islam Abu Zafor Md Touhidul
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University Dinajpur-5200 Bangladesh.
Advanced Energy Materials and Solar Cell Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Begum Rokeya University Rangpur Rangpur-5400 Bangladesh
RSC Adv. 2025 Mar 4;15(9):7069-7077. doi: 10.1039/d5ra00417a. eCollection 2025 Feb 26.
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) absorber layer in solar cells (SCs) is environmentally dangerous for the toxic behavior of cadmium (Cd). Alternatively, zinc telluride (ZnTe) is deliberated as a promising PV material for its adoptable absorption coefficient, better conversion efficiency and low production cost of materials requirements. The main objective of this study is to synthesis and characterization analysis of ZnTe thin films to enhance the performance of ZnS/ZnTe solar cell. The structural, optical, morphological and compositional properties of the ZnTe thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The performance of the cell was analyzed by SCAPS-1D. The XRD results showed that all the spin coated ZnTe thin films are in cubic phase. The determining optical band gap values are in the range of 1.77-2.18 eV. The SEM images indicated that the surface of ZnTe thin film annealed at 400 °C has better surface coverage area with homogeneity, good uniformity, and minimum void compared to the other annealed samples. The EDS study exhibits that all the films are Te richness with p-type conductivity. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) is found 17.45% with of 1.41 V, of 14.01 mA cm and FF of 88.53% for the 1184 nm optimum thickness of ZnTe and annealed at 400 °C. zinc sulfide (ZnS), indium tin oxide (ITO), platinum (Pt) and aluminum (Al) are indicated as buffer layer, transparent conductive oxide, back metal and front metal respectively of the device. All the findings confirmed that the deposited ZnTe thin films are suitable for usage as an absorber layer in thin film solar cells (TFSCs).
太阳能电池（SCs）中的碲化镉（CdTe）吸收层因镉（Cd）的毒性行为而对环境有害。相比之下，碲化锌（ZnTe）因其可采用的吸收系数、更好的转换效率和较低的材料生产成本要求，被认为是一种有前途的光伏材料。本研究的主要目的是对ZnTe薄膜进行合成和表征分析，以提高ZnS/ZnTe太阳能电池的性能。通过X射线衍射、紫外可见光谱、扫描电子显微镜和能量色散光谱对ZnTe薄膜的结构、光学、形态和成分特性进行了研究。通过SCAPS-1D分析了电池的性能。XRD结果表明，所有旋涂的ZnTe薄膜均为立方相。确定的光学带隙值在1.77-2.18 eV范围内。SEM图像表明，与其他退火样品相比，在400°C退火的ZnTe薄膜表面具有更好的表面覆盖面积，均匀性好，空隙最小。EDS研究表明，所有薄膜均富碲，具有p型导电性。对于1184 nm最佳厚度且在400°C退火的ZnTe，发现最高功率转换效率（PCE）为17.45%，开路电压为1.41 V，短路电流密度为14.01 mA cm，填充因子为88.53%。硫化锌（ZnS）、氧化铟锡（ITO）、铂（Pt）和铝（Al）分别被指定为该器件的缓冲层、透明导电氧化物、背金属和前金属。所有研究结果证实，沉积的ZnTe薄膜适用于用作薄膜太阳能电池（TFSCs）的吸收层。
