Simulation and optimization of the performance of multicrystalline silicon solar cell using porous silicon antireflection coating layer

•PV parameters.•PS treatment in mc-Si solar cell.•Analysis of I–V curves.

Different porous silicon PS formation processes were suggested from the viewpoint of photovoltaic. This work is to analyze on the results of using a porous silicon layer as an antireflection coating to improve the performance of multicrystalline silicon solar cells both in the dark and under illumination. A mathematical method is presented to extract the physical parameters like the diode saturation current, the series resistance, the ideality factor and the shunt resistance. These parameters are extracted to simulate the current–voltage and the power–voltage of multicrystalline silicon solar cell single and double exponential models, before and after PS formation, by using the Newton Raphson method. A good agreement between theoretical model and experimental measurement of electrical characteristics is obtained after and before the porous silicon layer formation which show clearly how the application of a thin chemical vapor etching (CVE)-based PS layer can improve the characteristics of solar cells.

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