The effect of Cu doping into Ag in ZnO/Ag/ZnO/SiO2 on reduction of the thermal effect of solar cells.

In this work, ZnO/Ag(Cu doped)/ZnO and ZnO/(Cu doped) Ag/ZnO/SiO2 multilayer films are prepared on glass by a sputtering technique. The optical, structural, and morphological properties of the Ag-based multilayer structures are compared. According to the results of the transmittance curve, it is found that the Cu doping into Ag leads to a significant broadening of the transmittance spectrum of the multilayer. The performance of the multilayer largely depends on the deposition time of different films. After doping with copper, the average light transmittance of the multilayer film exceeds 81.2% from 380 to 1100 nm, and the average light transmittance exceeds 10.2% from 1100 to 2500 nm. When the SiO2 anti-reflection layers are introduced, the average light transmittance of the multilayer structure from 380 to 1100 nm exceeds 85.2%, and this value reaches 18.3% from 1100 to 2500 nm. In addition, a 6-inch ZnO/Ag(Cu doped)/ZnO/SiO2 multilayer is used as the cover layer of the silicon solar cell. After 2 h of sunlight exposure, the increase in working temperature is reduced by 12 °C while the open-circuit voltage reduction is reduced by 4.1% in comparison with that using standard glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]