New designs for thin film solar cell devices (CDT-PV)

We plan to make new kinds of high efficiency thin film solar cells that work by avoiding some of the technical limitations of existing designs. You will design, make and test advanced solar cell structures in the dedicated solar energy materials and solar cells lab in Liverpool. The project is supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics.

Today’s PV devices have some intrinsic limitations caused by the materials used – and this gives some opportunities. For example, p-type doping of CdTe solar cell absorber layers is difficult to achieve and limits the voltage achievable from the solar cells. Also there is a further disadvantage that electrical contacts to p-CdTe always have an electron barrier which harms performance. Hence we will work on alternative structures, using CdTe as an exemplar material, but using n-type solar absorber layers. Initial testing of new ideas will be done using the Poisson solver computer package ‘SCAPS’. This will be followed by an intensive experimental programme of solar cell fabrication and testing in our dedicated laboratory.

As a student in the CDT for New and Sustainable Photovoltaics you will be a member of a multi-institution multi-disciplinary team of PhD students at the forefront of PV research. While you will start work on your project immediately, in the first year you will visit each of the seven partner labs for a total of 14 weeks intensive training in photovoltaics and receive a total of four years funding. Further details are available on the website CDT-PV.org where you can also fill out an initial expression of interest form online.