Strontium antimony iodide (Sr₃SbI₃) is one of the emerging absorbers materials owing to its intriguing structural, electronic, and optical properties for efficient and cost-effective solar cell applications.

In this article, semiconducting Barium Silicide (BaSi ₂ ) absorber based Al / SnO 2 : F / CdS / BaSi 2 : B / Cu novel heterostructure thin-film solar cell (TFSC) has been studied in details. The solar cell has been numerically simulated and intensely analyzed by Solar cell Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS). Layer thickness was varied from 100 to 3000 nm for p ⁺ - BaSi ₂ absorber, 20 to 200 nm for both n- CdS buffer, and n ⁺ - SnO ₂ :F window layers to optimize the device. Hitherwards, the impurities concentration for acceptor ( N _A ) and donor ( N _D ) ions was optimized for each layer through ample variation. The influence of single-donor and acceptor type bulk defect densities has been investigated thoroughly in p ⁺ - BaSi ₂ and n- CdS materials, respectively. An efficiency >30% is achievable ideally with a 2 μ m thick BaSi ₂ absorber without incorporating defects whereas it reduces to 26.32% with only 1.2 μ m thick absorber including certain amount of defects. Cell thermal stability and alteration of cell parameters were studied under cell operating temperature from 273 to 473 ° K . Finally, the effect of series ( R _s ) and shunt ( R _sh ) resistances on proposed cell has been investigated meticulously. This newly designed solar cell structure proclaims the chance of fabricating a resourceful, low cost, and highly efficient TFSC near future.

Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS)-based solar cells have exhibited greater performance than the ones utilizing cadmium telluride (CdTe) or hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H) as the absorber. CIGS-based devices are more efficient, considering their device performance, environmentally benign nature, and reduced cost. In this article, we proposed a potential CIGS-absorber-based solar cell with an FTO/ZnSe/CIGS/V₂O₅/Cu heterostructure, with a V₂O₅ back-surface field (BSF) layer, SnO₂:F (FTO) window layer, and ZnSe buffer layer. Using the solar cell capacitance simulator one-dimensional simulation software, the effects of the presence of the BSF layer, the thickness, bulk defect density, and acceptor density of the absorber layer, buffer layer thickness, interfacial defect density, device resistance, and operating temperature on the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, fill factor, and efficiency, as well as on the quantum efficiency and recombination and generation rate, of the device have been explored in detail. The simulation results revealed that only a 1 μm-thick-CIGS absorber layer with V₂O₅ BSF and ZnSe buffer layers in this structure offers an outstanding efficiency of 31.86% with a V_OC of ∼0.9 V. Thus, these outcomes of the CIGS-based proposed heterostructure provide an insightful pathway for fabricating high-efficiency solar cells with performance more promising than the previously reported conventional designs.