Influence of CuO Layer on the Performance of Thin-Film Copper Indium Gallium Selenide Solar Cells: A Numerical Analysis

We report our theoretical study on the effect of CuO as a hole transport layer in copper indium gallium selenide solar cell. This solar cell device was optimized by varying the thickness and doping density in the copper indium gallium selenide absorber, the CuO hole transport layer, and the bandgap in the absorber layer, as well as maximizing the performance of the device. The results show that the CuO hole transport layer in the optimized copper indium gallium selenide solar cell improves its power conversion efficiency from 26.29% to 30.66% at 300 K for the absorber layer thickness of 0.4 µm. The external quantum efficiency is improved from 70% to 80% because of the suppressed electron–hole recombinations due to the presence of the CuO layer. The study has the potential to fabricate highly efficient thin-film copper indium gallium selenide solar cells with a low-cost and non-toxic CuO hole transport layer.