WSEAS Transactions on Circuits and Systems
Print ISSN: 1109-2734, E-ISSN: 2224-266X
Volume 19, 2020
Simulation of the Electrical Parameters of Organic Photovoltaic Cells under QUCS and GPVDM Software
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Abstract: Polymer solar cells have attracted much attention during the last years due to their lower fabrication cost and possibility of using flexible substrates. Various parameters contribute to the stability of the performances of organic solar cells: the configuration or the structure of the cells, the materials used in their elaboration such as the active layer, the hole transport layer, the electron transport layer and the electrode contact. This work represents the modelling and simulation of organic solar cells using two software: Quite Universal Circuit Simulator, QUCS and General-Purpose Photovoltaic Device Model, GPVDM. First, an equivalent circuit model constituted from one diode, a series and shunt resistance, and a photocurrent generator have been used, this circuit is simulated under QUCS. The simulated results as function of different parameters such as series resistance, temperature of the cell, the ideality factor and current saturation are given. The current density as function of voltage J-V characteristics of the organic cell obtained from the experimental results are compared to the simulated one, results show that the curve with Rs=10Ω correspond to the experimental one, the ideality factor obtained by simulation of the organic cell is 1.2, which corresponds to recombination assisted by the traps levels. Second, we discuss the different structures of organic solar cells and the role of the interface layer used as hole transport layer or electron transport layer. The effect of the thickness and the type of the interfacial layers is simulated under GPVDM. The best efficiency is obtained in the case of cell using aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) as electron transport layer and copper oxide (Cu2O) as hole transport layer. The optimized cell is of the type: ITO/AZO (40 nm)/P3HT:PCBM (200 nm)/Cu2O (20 nm)/Ag, with a best power conversion efficiency of 5%.
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Keywords: Organic solar cells, temperature effect, ideality factor, simulations, QUCS, Interface materials, GPVDM
Pages: 196-205
DOI: 10.37394/23201.2020.19.22