A numerical simulation method is used to investigate the optical and electrical properties of both conventional sandwich and quasi-interdigitated back-contact (QIBC) perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The results reveal the fundamental physics of PSCs with different architectures, exhibiting their difference in working principle and device properties. A two-dimensional optical model, which takes into account both the electromagnetic and electronic properties of various device layers, is selected to accurately describe the device optical properties and to achieve more comprehensive simulations of solar cell properties under different device working conditions. Different carrier recombination mechanisms for two kinds of PSC architectures are also compared. The conditions under which the electrical properties of the perovskite photo-absorber layer enable QIBC PSCs to operate competitively or exhibit better device performance compared to the sandwich PSCs are examined in detail. The case of QIBC PSCs with various combinations of charge-selective layers is analyzed to provide an insight into materials selection for achieving high-efficiency QIBC PSCs. It is found that power conversion efficiencies more than 25% can be potentially achieved for CH3NH3PbI3-based QIBC PSCs after careful optimization of materials selection and device fabrication. The findings of this work can be used as a guideline for the design and fabrication of high-performance QIBC PSCs.

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