On the Investigation of Interface Defects of Solar Cells: Lead-Based vs Lead-Free Perovskite

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have drawn significant consideration as a competing solar cell technology because of the drastic advance in their power conversion efficiency (PCE) over the last two decades. The interfaces between the electron transport layer (ETL) and the absorber layer and between the absorber layer and the hole transport layer (HTL) have a major impact on the performance of the PSCs. In this paper, we have investigated the defect interfaces between ETL/absorber layer and absorber layer/HTL of calibrated experimental lead-based and lead-free PSCs. The influence of the defect interfaces is studied in order to find the optimum value for the maximum possible PCE. While the PCE has not been enhanced considerably for the lead-based, it is boosted from 1.76% to 5.35% for lead-free PSCs. Also, bulk traps were found to have minor role in comparison with interface traps for the lead-free cell while they have a significant impact for the lead-based cell. The results presented in this work would shed some light on designing interface defects of various types of practical PSC structures and demonstrates the crucial impact of the interface defects on lead-free vs lead-based PSCs. All simulation studies are performed by using SCAPS-1D simulator.

Numerical Simulation and Optimization of Highly Stable and Efficient Lead-Free Perovskite FA1−xCsxSnI3-Based Solar Cells Using SCAPS

“…According to [ 2 , 72 ], the interface defect density plays a major role in determining the performance of the PSC. Hence, this section is dedicated to the study of the impact of interface defect density in two scenarios: on one hand, at the ETL/PSC interface and, on the other hand, at the PSC/HTL interface.…”

“…One of the most prominent sources of renewable energy is solar energy. Solar energy can be harnessed by photovoltaic panels, which are an alternative method to generate electricity [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. The first generation of solar cells was silicon-based with a high-power conversion efficiency ( ), reaching .…”

Enhanced efficiency, durability and reproducibility of non‐fullerene acceptor organic solar cell with NiO as hole transport material: A computational study

“…PID is caused due to the liberation and migration of ‘Na + ’ ions from soda‐lime glass, used as substrate for manufacturing the solar panels, towards the semiconductor layers of solar cell matrix. This effect is generally proportional to an increased level of bulk/interfacial defect density at various locations inside the thin film solar cells thereby promoting hindrance to generation and transport of charge carriers 37,38 . Therefore, the relative effect of PID progression is studied in terms of varying defect concentration at different locations inside the cells.…”

“…This effect is generally proportional to an increased level of bulk/ interfacial defect density at various locations inside the thin film solar cells thereby promoting hindrance to generation and transport of charge carriers. 37,38 Therefore, the relative effect of PID progression is studied in terms of varying defect concentration at different locations inside the cells. Figure 5 depicts the schematic visualization of PID progression inside the simulated cell structures.…”

High-Efficiency Electron Transport Layer-Free Perovskite/GeTe Tandem Solar Cell: Numerical Simulation

“…The use of ZnOS as the ETL in the cell structure is co sistent with the performance estimation given in [27]. These output performance metri are achieved when the conduction band offset (CBO) of the ETM is 0.3 eV higher than th corresponding band of CH3NH3PbI3-xCIx, which is within the optimal range [28,29]. ZnO has a tunable energy gap and a high electron affinity.…”