Simulation of heat generation factors in kesterite CZTSSe thin film solar cells

Kesterite thin-film solar cells with abundant earth materials have attracted the attention of research groups and have reached over 12% efficiency so far. Cu(Zn, Te)(S, Se)(2) (CZTSSe) are emerging materials as an alternative for CdTe and CIGS chalcopyrite materials. However, the low performance of these devices compared to perovskite solution-processed materials has reduced their research popularity and commercialization of these devices. Heat generation and dissipation in these devices must be investigated as effective phenomena in either morphology and performance parameters of the cell. Here, a systematic coupled Opto-electro-thermal model has been developed to calculate the impact of the thermodynamic operation on the carrier transport in the structure of CZTSSe thin-film solar cells. The simulation considers the heat generation mechanisms in the structure of CZTSSe devices which are the main thermal losses as well. Five heat generation sources have been classified in the heterostructure of a conventional CZTSSe solar cell including intrinsic loss via Joule and Peltier heats (separately for electrons/holes), non-radiative recombination (including Auger recombination), surface recombination, and thermalization heats. We discussed the temperature distribution across the cell for different voltages. The impact of every heat generation factor on the current and voltage of the cell has been simulated and the heat generation density of each factor has been calculated and mapped in 3D for comparison.