Yilmaz, S.Dogan, V.Tomakin, M.Toreli, S. B.Polat, IBacaksiz, E.2025-01-062025-01-0620242352-492810.1016/j.mtcomm.2024.1088052-s2.0-85189501725https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2024.108805https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14669/2078This paper represents a systematic work on the fabrication of chemical bath -grown CdS films with and without Co atoms and their photovoltaic performances in hybrid solar cells. Structural properties showed 1% Co -doping promoted crystal quality of CdS films. However, a poor crystal quality was developed above 3% Co concentrations. A reduction in sphere size of CdS samples was observed for 1% Co -doping which was ascribed to slow growth of film. Optical examination demonstrated CdS films with 1% Co -doping displayed the highest transparency of 85% in the visible and near -infrared regions, which were explained by the improvement of crystal quality. A maximum band gap of 2.43 eV was found for 1% Co -doped CdS films, whereas an increase in Co concentration to 7% led to a decline in the band gap of CdS that was attributed to sp-d exchange interaction. Photoluminescence data showed Co -doped CdS films had lower PL peak intensity than that of CdS, demonstrating a decrease in the number of intrinsic defects. Photovoltaic measurements displayed that the best efficiency of 0.488% was achieved for CdS-based device including 1% Co atoms, which were almost a seven -fold boost in overall efficiency compared to bare CdS-based device. The enhancement in power conversion efficiency originated from an increase in short-circuit current density of 1% Co -doped CdS-based photovoltaic cell.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessCo-doped CdS thin filmsPhysical investigationOptical propertiesHybrid solar cellP3HT:PCBMArticleQ239WOS:001225018800001N/A