Advanced chalcogenide Ga2S3 coatings for reducing reflective loss and boosting efficiency in silicon photovoltaics

The current situation necessitates advancements in renewable energy as an alternative for conventional energy sources. Reflection loss in solar cells is a contributing factor to diminish the power conversion efficiency, which can be reduced by employing antireflective coatings. The current investigation focuses on improvement in photocurrent generation of monocrystalline silicon solar cells by employing Gallium sulfide (Ga2S3) as anti-reflective coatings (ARC). The RF sputter coating method has been used for Ga2S3 deposition at different coating durations (10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes). The transmittance, reflectance, I-V characteristics, electrical properties, and thermal behaviour of the Ga2S3 coatings on m-Si cells were analysed to determine the influence of the coatings. The incorporation of Ga2S3 led to enhanced power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) from the 16.38% to 21.80% under open conditions and from 18.58% to 24.33% under closed conditions. The Ga2S3 coating thickness for the GS3 sample was measured at 1.440 µm using FESEM. The minimum optical reflectance of 6.56% and maximum transmittance of 93.44% were achieved after 30 minutes of coating (GS3) within the 300 to 1200 nm wavelength range. The minimum electrical resistivity of a GS3 coated sample was measured as 5.33×10−3 Ω-cm. Ga2S3 coatings serve to reduce reflected losses and improve surface passivation.