Novel Solid State Solar Cell made from n-Cu2O Using One Step Pyrolysis Coconut Shell Powder Activated Carbon as Upper - Electrode

Coconut trees are distributed throughout many parts of the world, normally in the Asia-Pacific and South Asian region. It grows primarily in tropical and coastal areas. Activated carbon was prepared by one step pyrolysis by treating with 0.1 M KOH of scoured coconut shell ball billed micro particles at 364 °C heat rate of 10 cm^-1 in the nitrogen atmosphere for 0.15 h then washed with HCl. Iodine number was determined to all dried activated carbon samples. Powder activated carbon was characterized with SEM and proximate analysis. The copper plate was fabricated by using a thin film of Cu₂O which is formed by boiling (510^-3 M) solution of copper sulphate for 60 min. After a solid state photo-voltaic cell Cu/n-Cu₂O/CAC/ITO were produced have CAC acts as the upper electrode of the solid state solar cells. It was formed that n-Cu₂O/CAC contact forme schottky barrier junction to separate photo generated charge carriers, forming a solid state photovoltaic device. UV Absorption spectra, FTIR spectra. V-I characteristics and photo-current development with time were used to compare photo-voltaic characteristics of solid state thin film solar cell from this work.