A. A. Ojo

Electrodeposition of fluorine-doped cadmium telluride for application in photovoltaic device fabrication

Electrodeposition (ED) technique has been used to deposit thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) on glass-/fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates using a two-electrode system from acidic, aqueous medium containing Cd(NO3)2 4H2O, TeO2 and CdF2 as dopants. Photoelectrochemical cell measurement, DC conductivity measurement, X-ray diffraction, optical absorption, thickness measurement and atomic force microscopy were carried out to study the electrical, structural, optical, compositional and morphological properties of the as-grown, heat-treated and CdCl2-treated ED-CdTe layers, respectively. The characterization data obtained signified 1370 mV as the best growth potential and CdCl2 treatment at 400 °C for 15 min as the best post-growth treatment to achieve an optimal result.

Optimisation of pH of cadmium chloride post-growth-treatment in processing CDS/CDTE based thin film solar cells

The role of Chlorine-based activation in the production of high quality CdS/CdTe photovoltaic have been well discussed and explored with an overlook of the effect of Cadmium chloride (CdCl2) post-growth treatment acidity on the property of the fabricated devices. This work focuses on the optimisation of CdCl2 post-growth treatment pH as it affects both the material and fabricated device properties of all-electrodeposited multilayer glass/FTO/n-CdS/n-CdTe/p-CdTe configuration. CdCl2 treatments with acidity ranging from pH1 to pH4 were explored. The properties of the ensued CdTe layer were explored using optical, morphological, compositional structural and electrical property analysis, while, the effect on fabricated multilayer glass/FTO/n-CdS/n-CdTe/p-CdTe configuration were also explored using both I-V and C-V measurements. Highest improvements in the optical, morphological, compositional and structural were observed at pH2 CdCl2 post-growth treatment with an improvement in absorption edge, grain size, crystallinity and crystallite size. Conductivity type conversions from n-CdTe to p-CdTe, increase in pin-hole density and collapse of the absorption edge were observed after pH1 CdCl2 treatment. The highest fabricated solar cell efficiency of 13% was achieved using pH2 CdCl2 treatment as compared to other pH values explored.