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ARTICLE

Boosting power efficiency in polycrystalline silicon solar cells: antimony selenide sputter coating with advanced optical, electrical, and thermal insights

R. M. Reddy^a, S. Chirag^b, T. Anu^c, A. R. Venkataramanan^d, S. Karthikeyan^e,*, D. Palaniswamy^f, E. Venugopal Goud^a, N. Dineshbabu^g, T. Thirugnanasambandham^h

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, G.Pulla Reddy Engineering College, Kurnool, Andhrapradesh, India
b Department of Product Design, DLC state university of performing and visual arts, Rohtak, India
c Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering, The North Cap University, Gurugram, Haryana, India
d Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sona college of Technology, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
e Department of Mechanical Engineering, Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, Perundurai, Tamil Nadu, India
f Department of Mechanical Engineering, Adithya Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
g Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Engineering and Technology, Tamil Nadu, India
h Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), Saveetha University, Tamilnadu, India

* Corresponding Author:

Chalcogenide Letters 2025, 22(7), 615-624. https://doi.org/10.15251/CL.2025.227.615

Received 04 April 2025; Accepted 11 July 2025;

Abstract

Solar cells can transform light energy into electrical energy, possibly removing the need for fossil fuel energy resources. Reflection loss in solar cells is a factor contributing to diminished power conversion efficiency, which can be solved through using antireflective coatings on the cell surface. The present research primarily focuses on the development and application of antireflection coatings on the top surface of silicon solar cells. Sb₂Se₃ was deposited over multi-crystalline Si cells with different durations from 15 to 60 minutes. The influence of thin film Sb₂Se₃ coated cells was investigated through optical, current, voltage and thermal study. The ideal thickness of the Sb₂Se₃ coating was determined to be 1.336 µm for SB3 sample using FESEM. The lowest optical reflectance of 5.8% and highest absorbance of 93.4% was reached after 45 minutes of coating (SB3) across the 300 to 1200 nm wavelength band. The minimum electrical resistivity of a 45-minute coated Sb₂Se₃ sample was determined as 5.09×10⁻³ Ω-cm. The improved power conversion efficiency of Sb₂Se₃ coated solar cell under open sunlight setting was increased from 15.31 to 21.18% particularly for SB3 solar cell sample, which optimize maximum transfer of incident photons into the solar cell. From the observed results, it indicates that Sb₂Se₃ nanocoating has identified to be ideal antireflection coating material for polycrystalline silicon solar cells.

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Keywords

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