Nanocrystalline Fiber Cells of ZnO Thin Films Doped with Chromium: Synthesis, Characterization and Application for Solar Cells

In this work, we investigated the influence of Chromium (Cr) concentration 1.5 wt%Cr- 3.5 wt%Cr on the properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films deposited by Dip-Coating technique. The structural, morphological and electrical properties of the obtained thin films are investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and by electrical measurements for testing solar cell performances. It was found that the doped films become more amorphous by increasing Cr concentrations. As a result, the surface morphology of ZnO thin films exhibits the formation of different structures of: nanofibers, nanofibrils and nanorods clearly distributed inside ZnO cells. Moreover, it was also observed that the n-type ZnO is inverted to p-type for 1.5 and 2.5 wt%Cr. The most suitable electrical parameters for this study were obtained for 1.5 wt%Cr doped ZnO solar cells and for 2.5 wt%Cr doped ZnO with an efficiency of 24.32% and 22.43%, respectively.