Title : Experimental and numerical study of Ce1-xFexO2 thin films for photovoltaic applications
Abstract:
This work focuses on the synthesis and characterization of undoped and Fe-doped Cerium dioxide thin films. Moreover, it focuses on the numerical simulation of the CeO2-based solar cell using the SCAPS-1D software. The undoped and Fe-doped Cerium dioxide thin films at different doping rates (x = 2, 4, 6 %) were successfully elaborated using the Spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates at an optimized temperature (450 ± 5) °C. The effect of doping on CeO2 thin films was investigated using different analyses including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Hall Effect measurement. The XRD patterns obtained reveal that the films have a polycrystalline structure with a face-centered cubic structure of fluorite type. The Raman spectra confirm the results of the XRD analysis by the peak located at 462 cm-1 which corresponds to the F2g active mode of the fluorite cubic structure. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) data show the presence of the elements Ce, O, and Fe in the elaborated films. The analysis of the optical properties of the films reveals that the band gap of the films decreases with increasing Fe content and the analysis of the electrical properties shows that the doping has a significant effect on the electrical behavior of the films. In addition and based on the experimental data of the elaborated Ce1-xFeXO2 films, a numerical simulation is performed and shows that the doping influences the performance parameters of the CeO2-based solar cell.
