Performance Improvement of Lead-free Perovskite Solar Cells via SCAPS

Emerging technologies such as Perovskite solar cells resulted in booming the renewable energy field. It is imperative to improve the electrical performance of these flexile and lightweight solar cells for economic and environmental positive impact. This work explored the effect of various Transparent Conductive Layers (TCLs) including Fluorine –doped Tin Oxide (FTO), Boron Zinc Oxide (BZO), Molybdenum (VI) oxide (MoO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>), and Zinc Oxide (ZnO), and Electron Transporting Materials (ETMs) including Titanium dioxide (TiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf>), Carbon 60 (C60), Cadmium Zinc Sulfide (Cd<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>Zn<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>S) and Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) on the electrical performance of tin (Sn)-based perovskite solar cells in planar arrangement; TCL/ETM/CH<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>NH<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>SnI<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>/Spiro-OMeTAD/Au by varying the band-gap (1.0 eV to 1.6 eV) of the absorber layer via Solar Capacitance Simulator (SCAPS) software. The results obtained show that the device performance strongly depends on the absorber layer band-gap. The optimum band-gap for the absorber layer was found to be 1.2 eV. The MoO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf> and Cd<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>Zn<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>S attained the highest PCE of 25.39 % and 25.31 % respectively, at 1.2 eV. The results imply that MoO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf> and Cd<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>Zn<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.5</inf>S are the potential candidates to replace the most commonly used Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) and Titanium dioxide (TiO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf>) as TCL and ETM to enhance the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.