Double oxide perovskite (La_0.25Bi_0.75)₂FeCrO₆-based solar cell: electrical behavior and spectral response investigation

Abstract In this paper, the double oxide perovskite LBFCO ((La 0.25 Bi 0.75 ) 2 FeCrO 6 ), which has not been previously explored for photovoltaic applications, was investigated as a solar cell absorber to demonstrate its promising potential in photovoltaics. The Silvaco-based computational study highlighted the improvement of the electrical properties of ITO/Si/absorber/Si/Au solar cell, when replacing silicon absorber by an appropriate layer of (La 0.25 Bi 0.75 ) 2 FeCrO 6 perovskite. The results showed that open-circuit voltage (V OC ), short circuit current density (J SC ), fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of LBFCO-based solar cell can be improved to 1.3125 V, 5.45 mA cm −2 , 0.8528 and 6.1%, respectively, compared with the Silicon solar cell (1.31 V, 4.96 mA cm −2 , 0.9 and 5.85%) and BLFO-based solar cells as well as those based on BFCO thin films. These results also demonstrated the high performance of the solar cell in terms of efficiency and ideality, as well as its enhanced photovoltaic behavior. The appropriate absorber thickness was found to be 500 nm allowing a wide range (400 nm–700 nm) of external quantum efficiency spectrum with a maximum of about 80%. Moreover, the spectral responses of both (La 0.25 Bi 0.75 ) 2 FeCrO 6 absorber and its associated solar cell were explored according to DFT-GGA calculations (from our previous study) and Silvaco simulations, respectively. The investigation results showed a broadened UV–vis-IR absorption of La-substituted BFCO absorber in comparison to that of BFCO in other literature. Therefore, the improved J SC and PCE of LBFCO-based SC (9.88% and 4.27% enhancements, respectively, compared to Si-based solar cell) are well attributed to this enhancement in light absorption. The response of the LBFCO-based solar cell, in terms of photogenerated current, showed a partial mismatch with that of the LBFCO-only absorber and exhibited various photoactivities ranging in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, with optimal photocurrent values at wavelengths between 600 nm and 800 nm. The changes in the spectral results of both absorber and associated solar cell also revealed that the photovoltaic response is strongly affected by the type and structure of the solar cell components. Therefore, these obtained results underscore the critical importance of optimized solar cell architecture to maintain the optical performance of such perovskite.