Abstract
The current scenario illustrates distinct interest in developing renewable energy sources for power generation. In this regard, several researches are performed in enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. The present work focuses on utilizing ZnAl2O4 (gahnite) spinel as antireflection coating material to improve the power conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells. Gahnite was synthesized using two precursors namely zinc nitrate hexahydrate and aluminum nitrate nonahydrate through sol–gel technique. The thickness of the prepared gahnite sheets measured through atomic force microscopy was around 50 nm. Single to quintuple layers of gahnite was deposited on silicon solar substrate using spin coating technique. The influence of gahnite coating on the structural, optical, electrical properties and cell temperature of silicon solar cells are analyzed. The synthesized gahnite bears spinel crystal structure in the form of two dimensional nanosheet. Increment in layer thickness proves the deposition of single to quintuple layer on silicon substrate. A maximum of 93% transmittance and 20.72% power conversion efficiency at a low cell temperature (39.4 °C) has been achieved for triple layer deposition proving diffusion of more photons on the substrate. The obtained results prove gahnite as suitable anti-reflection coating material for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bahadur H, Srivastava A, Sharma R, Chandra S (2007) Morphologies of sol–gel derived thin films of ZnO using different precursor materials and their nanostructures. Nanoscale Res Lett 2:469. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-007-9089-x
Balaprakash V, Gowrisankar P, Sudha S, Rajkumar R (2018) Aluminum doped ZnO transparent conducting thin films prepared by sol-gel dip coating technique for solar cells and optoelectronic applications. Mater Technol 33:414–420. https://doi.org/10.1080/10667857.2018.1455384
Bouhafs D, Moussi A, Chikouche A, Ruiz J (1998) Design and simulation of antireflection coating systems for optoelectronic devices: application to silicon solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 52:79–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(97)00273-0
Boukhenoufa N, Mahamdi R, Rechem D (2016) Structural, optical, morphological and electrical properties of undoped and Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared using sol—gel dip coating process. J Semicond 37:113001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4926/37/11/113001/meta
Chen D (2001) Anti-reflection (AR) coatings made by sol–gel processes: a review. Sol Energy Mater Sol 68:313–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0248(00)00365-2
Ciupina V, Carazeanu I, Prodan G (2004) Characterization of ZnAl2O4 nanocrystals prepared by coprecipitation and microemulsion techniques. J Optoelectron Adv M 6:1317–1322. https://joam.inoe.ro/arhiva/pdf6_4/Ciupina.pdf
Da Silva AA, de Souza Gonçalves A, Davolos MR (2009) Characterization of nanosized ZnAl2O4 spinel synthesized by the sol–gel method. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 49:101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-008-1833-x
Dixit H, Tandon N, Cottenier S, Saniz R, Lamoen D, Partoens B (2013) First-principles study of possible shallow donors in ZnAl2O4 spinel. Phys Rev B 87:174101. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.174101
Dubey S, Sarvaiya JN, Seshadri B (2013) Temperature dependent photovoltaic (PV) efficiency and its effect on PV production in the world–a review. Energy Procedia 33:311–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2013.05.072
Hou Q, Meng F, Sun J (2013) Electrical and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO and ZnAl2 O4 films prepared by atomic layer deposition. Nanoscale Res Lett 8:144. https://doi.org/10.1186/1556-276X-8-144
Kawazoe H, Ueda K (1999) Transparent conducting oxides based on the spinel structure. J Am Ceram Soc 82:3330–3336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1151-2916.1999.tb02247.x
Kumar J, Negi VS, Chattopadhyay KD, Sarepaka RV, Sinha RK (2017) Thermal effects in single point diamond turning: analysis, modeling and experimental study. Measurement 102:96–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2017.01.046
Lien S-Y, Wuu D-S, Yeh W-C, Liu J-C (2006) Tri-layer antireflection coatings (SiO2/SiO2–TiO2/TiO2) for silicon solar cells using a sol–gel technique. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 90:2710–2719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2006.04.001
Mosleh M, Pryds N, Hendriksen PV (2007) Thickness dependence of the conductivity of thin films (La, Sr) FeO3 deposited on MgO single crystal. Mater Sci Eng B 144:38–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2007.07.089
Musat V, Teixeira B, Fortunato E, Monteiro R, Vilarinho P (2004) Al-doped ZnO thin films by sol–gel method. Surf Coat Tech 180:659–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2003.10.112
Natsume Y, Sakata H (2000) Zinc oxide films prepared by sol-gel spin-coating. Thin solid Films 372:30–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(00)01056-7
Radziemska E (2003) The effect of temperature on the power drop in crystalline silicon solar cells. Renew Energy 28:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(02)00015-0
Ravichandran K, Jabena Begum N, Snega S, Sakthivel B (2016) Properties of sprayed aluminum-doped zinc oxide films—a review. Mater Manuf Process 31:1411–1423. https://doi.org/10.1080/10426914.2014.930961
Rozati S, Akesteh S (2007) Characterization of ZnO: Al thin films obtained by spray pyrolysis technique. Mater Charact 58:319–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2006.05.012
Shahid M, Deen K, Ahmad A, Akram M, Aslam M, Akhtar W (2016) Formation of Al-doped ZnO thin films on glass by sol–gel process and characterization. Appl Nanosci 6:235–241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-015-0425-7
Sharma R, Amit G, Ajit V (2017) Effect of single and double layer antireflection coating to enhance photovoltaic efficiency of silicon solar. J Nano- Electron Phys 9(2):02001. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/65699
Tahâş S, Ristoiu D, Cosma C (2011) Trends of the global solar radiation and air temperature in Cluj-Napoca. Rom J Phys 56:784–789. http://www.nipne.ro/rjp/2011_56_5-6/0784_0789.pdf
Verma A, Vijayan N (2013) Sol–gel-derived nanocrystalline aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films for use as antireflection coatings in silicon solar cells. J Mater Res 28:2990–2995. https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2013.273
Verma A, Khan F, Kumar D, Kar M, Chakravarty B, Singh S, Husain M (2010) Sol–gel derived aluminum doped zinc oxide for application as anti-reflection coating in terrestrial silicon solar cells. Thin Solid Films 518:2649–2653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2009.08.010
Wang S-F, Sun G-Z, Fang L-M, Lei L, Xiang X, Zu X-T (2015) A comparative study of ZnAl2O4 nanoparticles synthesized from different aluminum salts for use as fluorescence materials. Sci Rep 5:12849. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep12849
Wei X, Chen D (2006) Synthesis and characterization of nanosized zinc aluminate spinel by sol–gel technique. Mater Lett 60:823–827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2005.10.024
Wiff J, Kinemuchi Y, Kaga H, Ito C, Watari K (2009) Correlations between thermoelectric properties and effective mass caused by lattice distortion in Al-doped ZnO ceramics. J Eur Ceram Soc 29:1413–1418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2008.09.014
Yoo J et al (2005) High transmittance and low resistive ZnO: Al films for thin film solar cells. Thin Solid Films 480:213–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2004.11.010
Zhu J, Nan Z (2017) Zn-doped Fe3O4 nanosheet formation induced by EDA with high magnetization and an investigation of the formation mechanism. J Phys Chem C 121:9612–9620. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b02084
Zou L, Li F, Xiang X, Evans DG, Duan X (2006) Self-generated template pathway to high-surface-area zinc aluminate spinel with mesopore network from a single-source inorganic precursor. Chem Mater 18:5852–5859. https://doi.org/10.1021/cm0606124
Acknowledgements
This research work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, under the Start Up Research Grant for Young Scientist (Project Grant No.YSS/2015/001151).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Velu Kaliyannan, G., Palanisamy, S.V., Palanisamy, M. et al. Utilization of 2D gahnite nanosheets as highly conductive, transparent and light trapping front contact for silicon solar cells. Appl Nanosci 9, 1427–1437 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-00949-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-00949-4