Development and characterization of Ag₃AuSe₂-based hybrid perovskite solar cells with chalcogenide ETLs and CFTS HTL

This work explores the development of hybrid perovskite solar cells using silver-gold chalcogenide (Ag₃AuSe₂) as the substrate. The focus is on combining wide-bandgap chalcogenide ETLs like WS₂, SnS₂, and CeO₂ with HTL CFTS. Three device configurations were analyzed: Device I (Al/FTO/WS₂/Ag₃AuSe₂/CFTS/Au), Device II (Al/FTO/SnS₂/Ag₃AuSe₂/CFTS/Au), and Device III (Al/FTO/CeO₂/Ag₃AuSe₂/CFTS/Au). The study considered key factors influencing device performance, including doping concentration, layer thickness, absorber defect density, and the characteristics of both the ETL and HTL layers. Device II showed the best performance among the three configurations, with significant improvements achieved through optimization. The performance of Device II was assessed using the SCAPS-1D simulator, focusing on optimizing doping and defect densities in both the ETL and HTL layers. Additionally, temperature effects and interface flaws were considered in the simulation. The optimal configuration of Device II achieved a maximum PCE of 29.60%, an FF of 84.84%, a V_OC of 0.7378 V, and a J_SC of 47.28 mA/cm². These results set a benchmark for Ag₃AuSe₂-based solar cells. Devices I and III achieved PCEs of 18.17% and 29.10%, respectively, but Device II remained the top performer. The study optimized solar cell design, with Device II achieving 29.60% efficiency, demonstrating the strong potential of Ag₃AuSe₂-based hybrid perovskite solar cells, whereas earlier work established Ag₃AuSe₂ as effective for NIR photodetectors but did not explore its photovoltaic applications.