Alla B. Chebotareva

Due to the excellent optical and electrical properties, CuCl is emerging as a promising material for enhancing the efficiency of CdTe solar cells. In this work, we present a low-cost, solution-based method for CuCl doping, which not only significantly reduces Cu dosage but also enhances the efficiency of Cu incorporation compared to traditional deposition techniques that are often costly and time-consuming. When CuCl was applied to a device structured as FTO/MZO/CdS/CdSe/CdTe, the experiments revealed that optimal efficiency was achieved with a CuCl volume of 300 μL and an annealing temperature of 280°C. This configuration resulted in an impressive efficiency of 17.3% (cell area = 0.24 cm²) without the use of an antireflection coating, representing nearly a 40% increase over the control cell's efficiency of 12.38% . The observed improvements can be attributed to an increase in carrier concentration and a reduction in the back contact barrier, which collectively lead to a remarkable short-circuit current density of 30.3 mA/cm², nearing the highest level reported for Cu-doped devices in the literature.

Fabrication of bifacial translucent solar cell is a promising technology for the development of building integrated photovoltaics and the construction of tandem solar cell. In this work, cadmium telluride (CdTe) polycrystalline thin films with a thickness of 1 μ m were prepared by using close space sublimation system while nitrogen-doped zinc telluride (ZnTe: N) and tungsten-doped indium oxide (IWO) layers were deposited by using magnetron sputtering and reactive plasma deposition technology, respectively. After analyzing the optical and electrical properties of films and optimizing their deposition processes, a bifacial ultrathin solar cell with a 7.1% back illumination conversion efficiency was developed, which was currently the best back illumination efficiency for CdTe solar cell with an absorption layer thickness of no more than 1 μ m. Furthermore, the bifacial ultrathin CdTe solar cell with ZnTe:N/IWO composite transparent back electrode can achieved a maximum theoretical efficiency of up to 20% under the back illumination by employing SCAP software simulation design.

As single-junction devices are becoming increasingly difficult to achieve higher efficiencies, a great amount of design and fabrication of multijunction solar cells has been reported. There have been many independent studies on silicon and II-VI photovoltaic materials, but their integration to form II-VI/crystalline silicon tandem solar cell is still relatively rare. In this work, the structure of cadmium telluride (CdTe)//Si(TOPCon) four-terminal (4-T) mechanical stacked solar cell was numerically simulated and the performances of this cell were explored by varying the thickness of CdTe absorber layer in the top cells. The simulation results demonstrated that the 32.2% optimum efficiency of CdTe//Si(TOPCon) 4-T mechanical stacked solar cell can be obtained when the CdTe thickness was about 600 nm. Specifically, tungsten doped indium oxide (IWO) as a transparent back electrode was innovatively incorporated into the top cell to increase the transmission in the near-infrared region (800–1200 nm), which can reach the bottom cell well and be absorbed. Finally, glass/SnO ₂ :F/CdS/CdTe/CuCl ₂ /IWO translucent solar cell as a top cell was prepared, and then, CdTe//Si(TOPCon) 4-T mechanical stacked solar cell with a 12.4% conversion efficiency were fabricated for the first time with rigorous and meticulous optical balance design.

Electrically conductive polymer materials are increasingly being used as electronic materials, for example, in thin-film transistors. However, the low mobility of charge carriers limits their use. One of the ways to increase the mobility of charge carriers can be the use of interface conductivity along the regions separating the two polymer films. It is important that it could be realized with non-conjugated polymers. There is no direct experimental evidence that the transport of charge carriers occurs along such an interface. It is impossible to deny the possibility of transport on the surfaces of polymer films. The purpose of this work is to study the current flow path in a multilayer sample by marking the polymer–polymer interface with a doping nanolayer of a Cu₂O island film. Spectral methods in the field of electronic absorption of copper oxide were used to control the island film. The electronic parameters of the polymer–polymer interface were studied using injection methods and volt-ampere characteristics. Atomic force microscopy was used to control the thickness and uniformity of the samples. It was found that the doping of the polymer–polymer interface using Cu₂O particles strongly affects the transport of charge carriers; in particular, the conductivity of the structure increases. It is established that this is due to an increase in the mobility of the charge carriers and a decrease in the height of the potential barrier at the 3D metal–2D interface area. Thus, it is established that the transport of charge carriers occurs along the polymer–polymer interface at the structure parameters specified in this work.

The mechanism of charge carrier transport in the indium tin oxide (ITO)/polymer/Cu structure is studied, where thin films of copoly(arylene ether ketone) with cardo fluorene moieties are used. This copoly(arylene ether ketone) is non-conjugated polymer which has the properties of electronic switching from the insulating to the highly conductive state. The dependence on the polymer film thickness of such parameters as the potential barrier at the ITO/polymer interface, the concentration of charge carriers, and their mobility in the polymer is studied for the first time. The study of this system is of interest due to the proven potential of using the synthesized polymer in the contact system of a silicon solar cell with an ITO top layer. The parameters of charge carriers and ITO/polymer barrier are evaluated based on the analysis of current–voltage characteristics of ITO/polymer/Cu structure within the injection current models and the Schottky model. The thickness of the polymer layer varies from 50 nm to 2.1 µm. The concentration of intrinsic charge carriers increases when decreasing the polymer film thickness. The charge carrier mobility depends irregularly on the thickness, showing a maximum of 9.3 × 10⁻⁴ cm²/V s at 210 nm and a minimum of 4.7 × 10⁻¹¹ cm²/V s at 50 nm. The conductivity of polymer films first increases with a decrease in thickness from 2.1 µm to 210 nm, but then begins to decrease upon transition to the globular structure of the films at smaller thicknesses. The dependence of the barrier height on polymer thickness has a minimum of 0.28 eV for films 100–210 nm thick. The influence of the supramolecular structure and surface charge field of thin polymer films on the transport of charge carriers is discussed.

The mechanism of charge carrier transport in the tin doped indium oxide (ITO)/polymer/Cu structure was studied for the first time, where thin films of poly(arylene ether ketone), which has the properties of electronic switching from the insulating to the highly conductive state, were used. The system under study can be considered as a model of a current-collecting contact system in a solar cell with ITO top layer. Keywords: transparent conducting oxide, conducting polymer, contact system, activation energy, tunneling.

The mechanism of charge carrier transport in the tin doped indium oxide (ITO)/polymer/Cu structure was studied for the first time, where thin films of poly(arylene ether ketone), which has the properties of electronic switching from the insulating to the highly conductive state, were used. The system under study can be considered as a model of a current-collecting contact system in a solar cell with ITO top layer.

In this work, we studied the influence of the geometry and degree of filling of glass dispersed particles on the optical and mechanical properties of flexible high-transmission composites, based on thermoplastic polyurethane. Glass spheres, glass flake and milling glass fiber were used as fillers. Studies of mechanical properties have shown that the introduction of any filler leads to a decrease in tensile strength and an increase in the elastic modulus of the composite material, however, with the introduction of glass flakes and milling glass fiber, a significant increase in the yield strength of the material is observed. The optical properties of composites with glass spheres decrease exponentially with an increase in the volume fraction of the filler. With an increase in the concentration of glass flakes and milling glass fiber to 10 vol.%, a sharp decrease in transmission is observed. With a further increase in concentration, the orientation of the filler along the film occurs, due to which the transmission in the visible range increases to values close to those of a pure polymer.