Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS)
absorber based solar cell generally use CdS as a buffer
layer. In large scale utilization of this kind of solar cell
there is a debate on the CDS which comprises with toxic
Cd. In this research different non-toxic materials have
been studied observing the suitable energy band
bending, potential of light insertion on the absorber layer
and other electrical output parameters for optimum
efficiency. From the research it has been revealed that
out of single layer ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, SnO2, In2S2 and
double layerZnSe-In2S2,ZnS-CdS materials the double
layer ZnSe-In2S2 has an excelled impact on the band
alignment and shows an efficiency around the
conventional single layer CdS based CIGS solar cells,
~21%. Hence this double layer ZnSe-In2S2 can be an
alternative of the toxic Cd based CdS in CIGS solar cells.
Keywords—Photoconversion efficiency, toxicity, dual
buffer layer, band alignment, Thin film solar cells (TFSC).