Study of CZTS/ZnS solar cells by circuit based modeling

Renewable energy sources are attracting great attention and employed in several domains. Among them, photovoltaic field is gaining more interest. It is employed in several applications such as battery chargers, water pumping systems and satellite power systems. Actually, many studies are actually devoted to photovoltaic effect which is based on the use of solar cells. These components (which are mainly constituted of semiconductor materials) are able to convert solar energy into electricity. However, two details remain ambiguous which are (i) the efficiency/cost ratio of the photovoltaic cell and (ii) the toxicity of based materials. Consequently, the challengers of researchers are the improvement of the efficiency/cost ratio and the use of eco-friendly materials such as Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS). In this work, the output characteristics of CZTS/ZnS solar cells were investigated by means of circuit based modeling. The electrical modeling was studied using the programming tool MATLAB and several parameters have been taken into account. The series resistance has particularly been considered in the solar cell equivalent circuit. The effect of radiation spectrum has also been investigated. The solar cell output characteristics were found to be directly affected by radiation spectrum. Moreover, Current-Voltage characteristics were greatly affected by series resistance as well as shunt resistance. The obtained results were in agreement with literature.